Dirty Little Secret
by sassafrasss
Summary: SasuHina. Sakura and Naruto are newly weds. Now a depressed Sasuke and vengeful Hinata come together in a small sort of comfort: sex [not described in story]. But when a ..complication.. arises, how will the two deal with it? What will Naruto and Sakura d
1. Dirty Little Secret

**Dirty Little Secret**

**SasuHina. Sakura and Naruto are newly weds. Now a depressed Sasuke and vengeful Hinata come together in a small sort of comfort: sex (not described in story). But when a ..complication.. arises, how will the two deal with it? And what will the newly married couple think? M for violence and language.**

**A/N: First off, I don't write Lemon, nor Lime. Well, maybe I just slightly dip into Lime. Just a tish… so don't be alarmed. This story will have a Sequel, I've got the whole thing planned out. Vaguely. . **

**Well, everyone's like 25… so don't get child porn in your head you little sicko's. **

**Well…Enjoy!**

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**WARNING!**

**Disclaimer: WARNING! I will say this only ONCE and it applies throughout the WHOLE DAMN FIC! I do not own Naruto or the characters.**

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"_I do."_

The words rang through her mind over and over and over. They made her sick. She wished that she could throw up the feeling, but she knew that the feeling wouldn't leave even if she did. She felt as though she had been slapped by two smirking faces, one of which she loved so dearly. Loved? Love? Past-tense or present? Did she still love him? Could she hate him for this? She couldn't after he had denied her once, six months ago.

Hinata sighed. She had just witnessed the tensest wedding of her life. First of all, there was the Haruno's. They greatly disapproved of Naruto, seeing as he is Kyuubi's vessel, and they weren't even a noble family. The Hyuuga's would have murdered him in his sleep on their honey-moon, had it ever worked out. Of course it hadn't. Nothing worked out for Hinata. Not moderately pretty, innocent Hinata. Boys were afraid to touch her, in case she shattered.

Second was the already half-drunk Uchiha Sasuke, who had got up just before the I do's to object for some unknown reason. Luckily, Kakashi had pulled him down and cocked him on the head with the handle of a Kunai he had in his Jounin vest. Yes, Kakashi had worn his Jounin vest over his tux. Thank God the happy newly wed couple hadn't seen Sasuke.

Third was the fact there was Hinata. First, she had told Sakura that she had to turn down the offer to be a Brides Mate, although she would be able to attend the wedding. Sakura had awkwardly nodded and promptly left. Naruto had probably told her. Now she probably thought Hinata hated her. Naruto glanced at her ever couple of seconds in the pews at the beginning of the service, until Sakura had fervently whispered in his ear that he was getting married, and Hinata wasn't that big of a concern at that very moment. Or at least that's what she thought she said.

But, of course, with a couple like they, the ceremony and the reception were as different like black and white.

The ceremony was one big ass party. It also included one stripper whom she had a sneaking suspicion that Kiba had secretly ordered to watch the Haruno's faces go the same shade as their cotton candy pink hair. Hinata had carefully averted her eyes the whole night so her own face didn't ignite into a fit of blushing.

Balloons were everywhere. The wedding cake was all over the floor around he table it was on (she guessed Akamaru had something to do with this.). The cake had been striped in the ugly colors Sakura and Naruto wore. Black, Orange, Red, and Pink. It was so ugly Hinata ha refused the offered piece. The dance floor was down and dirty, with the stripper in the middle.

As equally dirty as the stripper, Naruto had Sakura pinned in a corner of the room, and was attempting to fit her head in his mouth. Or at least that's what it looked like from this angle. The Haruno's were carefully enjoying a small chat in the far corner with the senseis, pretending they had no idea.

Hinata snickered. The marriage was either doomed, or going to be a wild roller coaster ride. Hinata pouted, realizing the latter was most likely true, seeing as Naruto's devotion was endless.

There was a thump as someone thunked down on the chair next to her, a large whisky bottle in hand. She looked, surprised to see Sasuke with his dull black eyes, watching the stripper like a hawk, also carefully avoiding the couple in the corner.

Hinata looked at him, where he was looking, then back to him, then to the bottle of whisky. With one surprising move of courage, She swiped the bottle from him and took a long swig, before she thunked it back onto the table and exhaling, feeling the burning mixture seer down her throat. She, too, stared at the dancing crowd.

Slowly, as though surrounded by slime, Sasuke's eyes and head rotated her way to stare at her. Slight amusement danced in his barely narrowed eyes.

* * *

Sasuke had been drinking a lot lately. Ever since his stupid ass so-called _best friend _Naruto had finally dragged him back home after a very bad battle between Sasuke and Orochimaru. They would have both died, had Naruto not come in right at that moment. Sasuke could have sword the Demon's vessel had been sniggering in the corner, just waiting for the right time to pop out and save the day, only to tell Sasuke over and over again he had saved him. It made him sick. 

He had decided to put his Itachi-killing-spree on hold for a bit. At least until he recovered from the psychological damage Orochimaru had done to him. So he tried, and really tried, to get better, to make his friends and Sensei happy, if not just to go kick his son of a bitch brothers ass.

It didn't work.

For two god-forsaken years, he had gone to counseling everyday. He ha spilled his feeling of hate for Itachi and Sound Village everyday. He felt a teeny bit better each time, but everyday he went home after that session to an empty Uchiha complex. The memories came pouring back every _god damned_ time.

The hurt just wouldn't fucking stop! He felt like a hole had been carefully carved in his heart, and plucked away. Such tedious artwork was first signed by Itachi, then Orochimaru.

_Damn them_, He had told himself, Fuck _them! I'll get _better_; I'll show them that I can be better!_

But every session of counseling was erased by the tide of pain when entering his home. Sasuke vaguely wondered that if he had stayed with Naruto, would be not be in the same position he was in now?

So after two damn years of hell, Sasuke slowly faded from counseling. He ignored the messages and threats from Tsunade. He had finally found something to dilute his pain in. Alcohol. It was, to him, the best invention. Ever.

So for the past year, he drowned himself in whisky, sake, beer, wine, and vodka. He liked whisky the best. It burned down his throat like fire, like punishment for being so weak, but then the warmth seeped from his belly throughout his body, giving him a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Like a loving mother's warm hug, or a proud father praise. It was his substitute.

Best of all, every day, he would get completely wasted, and he wouldn't even remember walking home, who he was with, where he had been, or what he had even done. He didn't remember walking into the dark and lonely Uchiha gates in the morning. For all he knew, Sasuke could have a kid by now. He most likely didn't, because the kid and girl would come running to him, begging for marriage, and then she would be mobbed by angry fan girls. He would find her hanging corpse hanging in the perfume department of the local clothing store, strung up by gold necklaces and watches, and any other nick-knacks women bought at those stores.

He wouldn't care.

So suddenly, six months ago, Sakura had finally given in to Naruto, and gone out on a date. And another. And another. And another. Soon, Naruto had proposed. It was moving too fast, and even Sasuke's bleary sharingan eyes couldn't keep up. Not with the alcohol blurring them, at the least.

He sparred less and less. He ate little to no food. He slept only when he fell unconscious. Every time he wished he would just never wake up.

Then a new spin came onto his life. Sakura was waiting. She had been waiting for him at the gate to the Uchiha complex. He remembered this, oddly. Probably something important. Yeah, it was. She slapped his first, sending him sprawling to the ground with her immense strength. She had helped him up, and then sat him down on a bench. He remembered this moment in perfect clarity, and had even recorded it on Sharingan.

"_Where's Naruto..?_" Sasuke had muttered, holding his aching cheek.

He remembered the nervous flicker of her eyes. "_He's not with me. I needed to talk to you alone_." She had said seriously.

Sasuke made a mental note to show Naruto this when he got the next stage of sharingan, if ever.

"_Then talk."_ He had retorted bluntly.

_"I-… I still love you, Sasuke, more than a friend, more than just a friend or teammate_." She had confessed guiltily.

Sasuke's eyes had opened fully, and the hazy screen made by alcohol in his eyes cleared, and he had moved like lightning. He had swiftly pushed Sakura away from him, and off the bench. In less than a second, the Chidori was out and sparking, Sasuke standing above Sakura.

Sasuke remembered it perfectly. He loved this part.

She had looked up at him with her doleful and scared turquoise eyes. He vaguely remembered asking himself why he was doing this. He had answered that no matter how much he hated his beloved best friend Naruto, he would not let her hurt him like this.

_"Sasuke I-"_ Sakura had tried, but Sasuke cut her off. He had begun to say everything he had always wanted to say.

"_Whore."_ He had accused coldly, "_Slut. Bitch. No one plays my best friend. He loves you, and you decided just to play along. I won't let you do it. I won't let you hurt him this way. Skank."_

She had shrunk to a pile of guilty pink and red. "_Sasuke… I do love him… I just love you too-"_ She had whispered on the ground.

The Chidori blazed brighter. "_No_!" he had shouted, "_You do not love me! You cannot have us both_!"

He watched her duck her head, tears springing in her eyes. The Chidori vanished, and he had walked into his gate, throwing one last remark over his shoulder, "_Stay away from me, Bitch_."

Sasuke had recalled those memories while sitting in the pews at that wedding. This was the first time he had seen Sakura since that day. Naruto had been so depressed when Sasuke had refused to be his Best Man. Now Shikamaru was up there, looking bored.

Sasuke had sprang to his feet and opened his mouth, ready to shout out that Sakura didn't love only Naruto. He would have too, save for the thwack on the head Kakashi had given him. Sasuke was knocked out until half way through the after-party. He had woken up, unfortunately, sober.

His whisky had been taken away. Most likely by Kakashi. He had strode over to where Kakashi was standing, searched his Jounin vest rudely in front of the Haruno's, and walked away. He felt like some quiet company, so he sat down next to… Hyuuga Hinata? Yeah, that was it.. He stared at the stripper absently, thinking about her breasts vaguely.

He was completely surprised when his whisky bottle was swiped. He watched from the corner of his eye as she swigged it on down. _My type of girl…_ he growled in his head.

Sasuke looked at her. He was immensely amused. He gently and slowly took the bottle from her grasp and took a drink, before offering it back to her. His face never changed the whole time.

Hinata took the bottle and drank from it. As she did, she felt Sasuke watch her. Finally, he asked, "You still like the moron, eh?"

Hinata nearly choked on the whisky, and ended up sputtered. She heard Sasuke snicker beside her. Was she really that obvious?

Sasuke took the bottle and drank. He lazily looked at her. "Is that why you're drinking?" He offered the bottle.

Hinata took it and drank, nodding at the same time.

Sasuke nodded. She offered him the bottle and took it. He drank, and she finally spoke.

"What do you d-drink for?" she asked, her milky white eyes rising to meet his, before reverting to the table.

Sasuke decided that he didn't like that slight stutter. But he'd leave it. Obviously she had been working on it, and it was a slip.

"I can't reach my brother." He stated impassively.

She knew. He watched her glance quickly at Naruto and Sakura. She had quickly decided her problems weren't as bad as his. He hated sympathy. Before she could stutter out an apology, he shoved the bottle to her. "Hold this." He commanded.

Sasuke got up, and smirked as he heard a sipping noise behind him. He went around every table, and took the cups. He kept collecting until he had 24 in his hands.

Returning to Hinata, he lined up the 24 cups, and poured whisky (a shots full) in each one. 12 were in front of him, and 12 in front of her.

Sasuke gave her a tiny smile. "Okay, drinking game. Here's how it goes, in between each saying, you must drink a shot…" _And by the time your done you wont remember what you said I n the beginning..._ Sasuke finished in his head. He played this game often on his own, but it was better with a partner.

Hinata nodded.

Sasuke took a breath. "Here it is:

One red hen

Two dead ducks

Three brown bears

Four running hairs

Five fat females smoking cigarettes slowly sipping scotch

Six seasick seamen sailing seven seas

Seven sloppy slop-eaters sloppily slopping slop

Eight elongated elephants escalating an elevator

Nine nasty Nigers navigating down the Niger

Ten plump plum pickers plump-fully picking plump plums

Don't call me a plum picker nor a plum picker's son, but I'll pick plums until the plum pickings done.

Am I a turtle? Yes."

Hinata slowly took this in. She instantly had it memorized. Sasuke smirked. "This is a race. Ready? Set? Go!"

They quickly launched into the game, saying each verse in unison.

"One red hen" One drink

"Two dead ducks" Two drinks

"Three brown bears" Three.

"Four running hairs" Four. Hinata was having trouble with remembering the first one. Was it pen or jen?

"Five fat females smoking cigarettes slowly sipping scotch" Five. Sasuke turned on his Sharingan, he wanted to watch her swoon.

'Six seasick seamen sailing seven seas" Six

"Seven sloppy slop-eaters sloppily slopping slop" Seven.

"Eight elongated elephants escalating an elevator" Eight drinks. Hinata could no longer remember the first five. Nor could she stand on her own, if she had tried.

"Nine nasty Nigers navigating down the Niger" Nine drinks. Sasuke was having trouble keeping the Sharingan. He turned it off, and succumbed to the darkness of being drunk.

"Ten plump plum pickers' plump-fully picking plump plums" Ten drinks. Hinata was simply mumbling now.

"Don't call me a plum picker nor a plum picker's son, but I'll pick plums until the plum pickings done." Eleven drinks. Sasuke was slurring the words and grinning like an idiot. His eyes were fixed on Hinata.

Am I a turtle? Yes." Twelve. They said 'Yes' at the same time, and both of them vaguely noticed Sasuke closer to Hinata, his hand holding her chin, so her dazed eyes looked into his.

He smiled.

* * *

Kurenai was at the party too. She stuck close to Asuma and Kakashi. She scowled when Sasuke rudely interrupted their conversation with the Haruno's. She watched him meander over to a depressed and rather lonely looking Hinata. She snorted and turned her back again. 

Later, when Sakura's aunt could take it no more, she told them she just had to stop Naruto and Sakura. Naruto was tugging at her dress, ready to strip them both down to their skinny's right then and their. Kurenai's crimson eyes drifted to where her student was sitting with Sasuke.

They were gone.

She turned back to Asuma and assumed they had both gone home.

* * *

The door to the Uchiha household hit the opposite wall with a loud bang. Hinata giggled into Sasuke's neck, shh-ing him. He mumbled something back about no neighbors in her ear, and then captured her lips again. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, and he responded with more authority. As if _she_ was going to be the dominant in this. Pfff. 

They stumbled about the hall. He forced her against a wall, knocking down a picture that hadn't been dusted in over twelve years onto the floor. He stripped her shirt off and threw it on the ground. She giggled and snorted again as his teeth nipped her neck.

Normally, alarms would all be off in both of their heads. But today, they were so damn drunk, there wasn't even a _flicker_ of recognition of what they were doing was bad. Sasuke pushed her into the other hall, and turned, his back smashing the door into his room.

They stumbled and with a chance push by one of their tangled limbs, and they were on the bed. Hinata's foot kicked out, and the door slammed shut.

Had there been neighbors in the clan complex (or anyone else, for that fact) they would have been very embarrassed to hear the Uchiha's _Dirty Little Secret..._

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**A/N: I really liked writing this one. It's got some humor in it.**

**Drinking game explanation: My friend taught me this one in the library. The next year she turned Emo and got sent to Juvie for some kind of drug. Oh well, she wasn't that great anyway. (didn't know her too well.)**

**Four days of school! Updates will be faster!**

**Give me some predictions on what you think might happen in this fic. Give me suggestions. I mean, telling me 'good job' is nice, and it inspires me like all reviews, but when you give predictions and suggestions, I just love you forever.**

**I love you guys anyway. 3**


	2. Coming back for more

**A/N: D: Sorry guys, I am caught up in a wave of finals. I only have one day left of school. Soo.. Ja, I'll be writing more and more. I have no real motivation to write in Figures A and B first because… I really like this fic.. **

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A breeze was floating through Konoha. It carried a new scent. The scent was subtle, and sneaky. It often floated into town in secret, or in the dead of night, and no one would notice, until something big had happened, in which the villagers would stumble about, hold their aching heads, and rightly garble out a lump of gibberish. 

Yes, it was change.

The breeze changed; there was a disturbance in the force; or the new day just felt like something… more.

Change; The ultimate force in the whole world.

Most people hated change. Oh, they hated it with a vengeance. It was because most change came in a large way. A family member or pet dies, a large thunderstorm knocks down a tree right on the prized mock-well your gardening grandmother has just had you put up, decorated with plastic garden gnomes and lilies. Now she's having a tizzy fit, and you blame change.

It's because of these big bad changes in our life that human nature instinctively hates change. The fear that if you change one minor detail, you screw up the whole damn painting. The fact that accepting change and using it to your advantage forces you to stretch outside your comfort zone (and sometimes into someone else's..).

But as the breeze of change floated through the Uchiha compound, the blinds rustled, flickering the light of the morning onto Uchiha Sasuke's eyes. His face was peaceful, and his obsidian orbs opened like a wave of void. A small smile or smirk flickered onto his face at what he saw in front of him.

Uchiha Sasuke was pleased with this little bit of change.

The very naked Uchiha Survivor stared at the top of a certain very naked sleeping Hyuuga Hinata. Her head was cuddle into the crook of his neck, and she was laying directly atop him, her chest and body smashed against his.

He was certainly not angry there was a naked woman on him. He didn't think any man would be, save for Kabuto and Orochimaru, maybe.

Next, he took his position.

Sasuke had slept with his chin resting on the top of her head. His arms were loosely latched around her torso, connecting at the small of her back. His legs were intertwined with hers in an odd and… slightly vulnerable position.

Then the headache came, and his whole body tensed as the throbbing pain of a hangover took hold of his skull. Hinata moaned, and shifted slightly.

Sasuke realized that she was going to have a nasty awakening, as she did not have he experience with alcohol as he did. He snickered at the thought of her stumbling about.

Gently, so as not to wake the heiress, he slid her off his body, and he hoisted himself out of bed, and out from beneath the covers. Completely naked, Sasuke walked into his kitchen, and began to make coffee. After brewing a pot, he began to gulp down five pain relievers with his much needed caffeine.

* * *

_Her nails digging into flesh. The arcing pleasure speeding through her, like electricity. Her long scream._

Hinata awoke with a start, rather surprised by this dream. She yawned, and shut her eyes against the light coming in from the blinds. She snuggled down into her pillow and inhaled her scent.

Hinata's eyes snapped open once again. She sat straight up in bed, only to be forced down as a mini explosion went off inside her head as soon as the light hit her eyes.

Hinata clutched her throbbing head, and cracked an eyelid, just barely taking in her surroundings. That hadn't been her smell.

It was Uchiha Sasuke's smell.

She turned her head and looked at the wall and noticed it as bare. Hinata's wall was covered in carefully placed paintings and pictures of her and her team. Her wall was lavender. This wall was red.

Already, she felt as thought this weren't a dream. Now for the breaker. Hinata carefully and slowly lifted the covers to reveal… Herself. Naked.

Hinata clutched her head and melted into a puddle of goo under the covers.

This _was not_ a dream.

Hinata clenched her eyes shut and attempted to think of a plan. She needed to get out of here… now. She realized that if she was gone too long, her family would know.

Hinata threw the covers off herself in disgust. Tears sprang into her eyes. How could she have made such a rash decision?! _No_. She thought firmly, _you are a mature adult. You will not cry._

She stood, and collected herself, wiping her threatening teas on her arm, and taking a deep breath. Then, she collected her clothes. Embarrassingly, only her underwear and bra were in the room. Peering through a crack in the door, she saw her pants just outside the door. Her shirt should be somewhere else along the entry-way.

Hinata put on her under garments, and gulped. Slowly, she opened the door, and snatched her pants, putting them on swiftly.

Silently, Hinata moved into the hallway and took a left, thinking the door that way. The door was to the right and to the left a ways down. She had unknowingly taken a wrong turn.

Hinata turned once more, and ended up gaping at Uchiha Sasuke's naked back and butt. Hinata made a noise of surprise, and then quickly covered her mouth, paralyzed and mortified.

* * *

Sasuke had finished his last pain reliever, when a small gasp was made audible behind him. He turned his head to the side and peered at her blandly from the corner of his eye. 

He almost smiled. The look on her face was priceless. She was mortified. Sasuke looked back at the counter and poured himself another cup of coffee.

"Don't worry." He said tauntingly, "You've seen me naked one..two..three.. four times. Yeah, four."

He smirked, satisfied as a horrified gasp slash cough sounded behind him.

Then a question stopped his smirk in its tracks, along with his voice.

"Ah.. D-did you.. Ah… use… p-protect..tion….?" came her stuttering voice. Sasuke grimaced. He hated that stutter. He didn't like it, and she only did it when she was uncomfortable in the situation.

"Yeah." He replied in a flat voice.

A sigh of relief was heard behind him. Was she really still here? Well then, time to get rid of her.

"Your shirt is in the front hallway next to the door, a right from my bedroom." He said to her, then he turned his head and flashed her a smirk, "Anytime, Hinata."

He heard her quickly scuttle away.

He chuckled to himself. No one would ever know that he, the Uchiha bastard, had stolen the innocence of Hyuuga Hinata, the heir of the Hyuuga clan.

Sasuke relished in the fact that she would never tell. He drank his coffee.

* * *

Hinata found her shirt in the entranceway, and her sweatshirt in the alleyway of the Uchiha compound. It was silent. So silent, it was chilling. She put on her sweatshirt, and raced home, watching as the servants gave her odd looks. She simply stared at the ground with her crumpled clothing and raced upstairs and into her room, quickly shucking off her clothing, jumping into the shower immediately, to scrub off any scent of Sasuke. 

Now, while the hot water ran down her back and the noise from the shower head having water forced through the tiny holes covering any noise, Hinata could cry.

Hinata slumped to the bottom of the shower. Tears streamed down her face, the salty things mixing with the water pouring off her.

_Naruto…_She thought forlornly. Never in her life would she be able to give the gift of her virginity to him, nor any other man she would ever love. She was now used goods.

_Used Goods…_ She thought with a chilling twinge. Her father would blow his top. How was he going to marry her off now? She was worth nothing, for good now.

Hinata clutched her still throbbing head in her hands and cried into them.

Sasuke had no idea what he had stolen from her.

* * *

On the other end of the tie, Sasuke was feeling exceptionally well. 

Sex had given him a major personality boost, and so he left his house without his bottle of whisky and had a new slight swagger in his step. His head felt clear, and he saw the world in a whole new way. He felt better than it all.

Oh yes, sex was a powerful mood booster.

Sasuke decided as he left the complex that he felt like beating the shit out of something. He grimaced at t he option of training with Naruto and Sakura disgusted him. Secretly, he'd like to take on Sakura, and her medical jutsu's and super strength. That and he felt like beating her up. But he knew NARUTO would play dirty and attack him if he felt Sakura was threatened.

So… scratch old teammates off the list.

He sighed, realizing what he'd have to do. He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed through town.

People wrenched their heads to catch a look at the Traitor, and local drunk. The looks had stopped a few months after he came back, but now they were watching him all over again.

They were quite surprised he was sober.

Sasuke entered the Hokage's building with a glare. The guards had gotten unnecessarily close to smell any alcohol on him before he entered. When he was drunk, he never really cared what others thought about him. But now that he was sober enough to notice, he had to ask himself. Was his drunken reputation really this great?

Sending one last glare over his shoulder at the guards, he climbed the steps. At the top, he silently walked the halls. Soon, he came to the massive double doors.

Sasuke turned on his Sharingan for kicks and giggles, and quickly swung in the door.

Anyone else would have burst into laughter. Sasuke merely broke in a smug smirk.

Tsunade was in the middle f taking a large swig of sake from her hidden bottle. Her brown eyes met his, and she jumped in surprise, spitting Sake all across her desk.

She raised her head to be confronted with the slowly spinning tomoe. She immediately knew.

"You're sober!" she blurted out, sputtering.

"I am." Sasuke replied evenly, and then pointed out, "You're half drunk."

Tsunade, who had regained her composure, dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand, saying, "No different then usual."

She was rewarded with a half smile half amused smirk from Sasuke. It quickly disappeared.

"What do you want again?" she asked flatly.

"I want to beat the shit out of some enemy nin." He said, "B, maybe A mission."

Tsunade glowered at him. "You're still a Genin. I can't give you that." She said.

"Oh yes you can." Sasuke replied, an odd gleam in his eye.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and adjusted her boobs. "Oh really?" she asked, matching his tone.

Sasuke had already won.

"Yeah. Because I've got the sharingan. I'm sober. I'm powerful and fast. And I am the least most likely to die than any other ninja here, and you know it." Sasuke said with little emotion.

Tsunade flopped back in her chair. He had won. Naruto would throw himself into every dangerous situation. Sakura was just to slow not to get hurt. Out of the three, Sasuke was the best of skill, speed, and power. And with his bloodline limit, he was just so balanced. The perfect killer, no wonder Orochimaru had chosen him.

"Fine. You're a Chunnin as of right now." She said, then chucking a scroll at him, "Here. B mission."

Sasuke caught it deftly and ducked his head. "Hn." Then he was gone.

Tsunade picked up her bottle of sake and swallowed a large gulp. The fact his whirling sharingan had recorded the whole scene into his memory chilled her.

* * *

Sasuke moved through the forest, carrying an old man on his back. He had read the scroll, and gone about his mission. So far, he was severely disappointed. Bring this old man back to his village. He was very important, and the Village Hidden in the Cloud wanted him dead. Apparently, he was to expect an ambush. He was nearly there, and nothing. 

He kept his ego from bruising by telling himself it was because he was the Uchiha.

Then, something burst from the trees. Sasuke dropped from running along t he trees onto the ground, and dropped the old man unceremoniously into a hole of a tree.

Sasuke deftly caught the flying kunai in between his pointer and middle fingers. He smiled slightly.

As thirteen masked cloud nin dropped to surround him, Sasuke shifted the kunai and himself into a fighting position.

This was going to fun.

* * *

In Konoha, Hinata was training fiercely. 

Although she was a Chunnin, and they Jounin, Hinata still trained quite often with Kiba and Shino.

Her eternal friends were so different in personality, but still the bonds they all held were so strong, almost nothing could break them.

That one hat could break them also held all three together: Hinata.

Kiba and Shino were fiercely protective over her, always. So, naturally, when something was bothering her, they could tell.

She was fighting Kiba and Shino currently, and doing better than normal.

_She is trying to hide something_…, thought Kiba.

_She is trying to forget something_…, thought Shino.

Kiba was so caught up in his current thought; Hinata landed four blows on him, closing four of his tenketsu. That totaled to six now. He was already having trouble directing chakra flow.

Shino had three of his tenketsu closed. It was taking a toll on him. Directing his bugs took a careful amount of chakra flow. Everything had to be precise, exact, perfect. With just three of his tenketsu's closed, his bugs were flying much more erratically. Shino had certainly gained respect for Hinata in the short period of time they had been training.

So when he heard Kiba's pained yelp, he decided they needed to be done for the day.

Kiba lifted his left arm, watching it shake, and attempted to close his hand. It only went half way. Akamaru barked erratically, and Hinata was letting loose a long stream of apologies.

Kiba silenced Akamaru before giving Hinata a smile. "Ah, it's nothing Hinata. I can still-" he started, only to be cut off.

"-walk. Because I think we should be done for the day." Shino finished. Hinata met his sunglasses with her big, creamy eyes.

Kiba looked at Shino dumbfounded, before getting the message. Hinata had gotten it too. She was now staring at the ground. They wanted to know, and help.

They couldn't.

"I-I want to train a bit longer." Hinata said, "You two go home and rest."

Shino frowned beneath his cover. The stutter. She was really upset. But if she wouldn't tell, he would respect that.

Fortunately, Shino expected that Kiba wouldn't.

"Hinataaa… what is going on with- ugruph!" Kiba started, only to be cut off by Shino's arm.

"Apparently, you are unable to walk, Kiba." Shino said near his ear, "Allow me to help you home." Shino then swung his loud and blubber mouthed teammate over his shoulder and began to walk away, ignoring Kiba, who was swearing loudly, and pounding his back.

Using his free hand, Shino raised it so Hinata could see it over his shoulder as a good bye. She smiled at the sight, and watched them fade into the distance.

Hinata turned back to the standing log with determined look on her face. She could not practice her Jyuuken upon the log, but she could practice her taijutsu.

In a flurry of motion, Hinata began, jumping between trees, throwing kunai and shruiken's, moving through the forest swiftly, often taking breaks.

She continued in such a way that she trained for hours. Soon, the sun was low in the sky, like the massive orange Hyuuga Sun symbol orb. She stared at it for a moment, catching her breath and leaning against a tree.

She was covered in broken twigs, and had dirt smeared upon her.

She grimaced as the memories from the night before and the morning came rushing back. She was disgusted with her little to no resistance against the alcohol and heat. Most of all Sasuke. How could she? She had always had that gift to give to Naruto, or someone she loved. Not Uchiha Sasuke, traitor of Konoha.

And although she had to admit that what she had done was terrible, but she could not deny it. In her time of need and despair that Naruto had seemingly betrayed her, Sasuke had been a comfort. She had felt better for going behind Naruto's back and capturing his best friend in her eyes creamy depths.

A noise jolted her from these thoughts. Immediately, Hinata ducked into fighters crouch, a kunai at the ready. When the noise came again, she nearly jumped. It was a husky grunt and an odd squeal.

Clasping her hands together, Hinata turned on her Byakugan, searching the area for the source of the noise. It could be a danger.

What she found was certainly dangerous to her mental health.

There it was, an unmistakable chakra flow that she knew oh so well. Naruto always had that blazing ball of orange chakra in his belly, representing the presence of Kyuubi, the great demon fox.

What really hurt her was how his chakra raced, and intercepted with the normal chakra system of somebody else.

Hinata could not recognize anyone else unless they had another certain type of chakra in them, like Naruto, and Gaara, but she could take a guess.

Without them knowing anything, Hinata had just caught Naruto and Sakura (she assumed correctly) in the act.

Any sort of resolve Hinata had been dissolving quickly into a puddle of goo.

Tears threatened to spill over her lids, and Hinata quickly shut off her Byakugan and sped away, leaping from tree to tree, from tree to roof, and from roof to roof, the sun slowly sinking behind her.

She stopped. He couldn't go home in this condition. Her father would simply have more fuel to call her weak and treat like the pile of used shit she now was.

"_Anytime, Hinata" _

She had a sudden idea, and turned, taking off in a completely new direction.

* * *

Sasuke sighed. 

He scrubbed his hair more vigorously, freeing it of the last of the conditioner. He had came home when the sun was only inches above the horizon, and gotten into the shower to wash the blood off him.

The fact that none of it was his gave him great satisfaction.

The hot water felt so great on his sore muscles, he stretched luxuriously, feeling bones and joints pop and move.

A noise sounded at the door of his bathroom. A bang. Sasuke stopped and listened. Nothing came for another second, and then with a crack and a loud splinter, the locked door fell inward.

Sasuke jumped, then turned, stunned as t he shower curtain was whisked back.

Hinata stood therefore a moment, tears streaming from her big white orbs.

Sasuke stared, his onyx eyes wide with surprise as Hinata slowly stepped into the shower, the water washing over her and her clothes, soaking her immediately.

Sasuke was paralyzed as Hinata wrapped her arms around his neck, and stood on her tip toes, making an audacious move and kissing him softly on the lips.

Sasuke's shocked expression slowly turned into a smirk as he realized what was going on.

He was not about to reject her, so he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, returning her kiss fiercely.

He began to remove her clothes, and thought smugly, _Well look who came crawling back for more..._

* * *

**A/N: Woo! That was two and a quarter more pages than usual, but beautiful none-the-less.**

**I am sorry. I said I would get this done last weekend, but finals killed me. You're lucky I got it done now.**

**Told you all of you were half wrong.**

**I wore a Santa Hat through the making of this whole chapter. Just thought I'd share that with you. x)**

**Santa hats to the following reviewers: ****muddledthoughts, mimi, Hinata6, subakukyuu, queen46, TONI, kaiyurichan818, crystaldrops14, narutogurl109, LazyAssDragon, ilovekoga, DJ, immortalrin, Orismoris, NanamiYatsumaki**.

**School is out, my ducklings! Updates will be faster, better, and new and improved! Woo!**


	3. Needed

**A/N: First of all, I would like to honor and mention the fact that this fic was accepted into my first C2 Community as one of the best SasuHina of its rating. I am honored that Moonlight's Shadow chose my story! Give them hugz!**

* * *

This is very, very, very wrong. 

The words rang through her head constantly with constant ache of guilt. What she had done… again… was very wrong and bad for her to do. And while she believed it to be true, she had a very good question in mind.

If this was so very, very bad… Why does it feel so good?

Hinata brushed the question away and repeated her mantra again. She could not let herself go and think about last night. And the night befo- No!

"This is bad." She stated to Sasuke.

It had suddenly changed from spring to summer overnight, because the place was absolutely steaming. The heat was insufferable.

They were both naked, lying atop the bed, whose sheets and covers had been stripped free, to get rid of anything that could store heat near their bodies. Their poses reflected their character anyways.

Hinata had her back facing Sasuke. She was as smooshed the edge and as far away from him as possible without falling. Her hands were nestled together in a nervous grip at the start of her ribcage below her neck. Her legs were slightly curled. In truth, she was already half way to the fetal position.

Sasuke was in a completely different pose.

Due to the heat, he was splayed out as much as he could, expressions on his face that if he could remove his skin too, he totally would. His arms and legs were spread apart, giving the illusion that he was doing jumping jacks. The close observer would notice that Sasuke did not touch Hinata in the least. There was always at least one foot of space between any of their body parts.

So, at that very moment, the almighty Uchiha Sasuke gave his one and only awesome answer:

"Hn."

Hinata frowned slightly at his response, and got up, beginning to gather her clothes which her still wet. They had migrated to the bed from the shower, but her clothe were sopping. She would need a new plan to get into her room. Perhaps the window. She had left it open yesterday. Hinata cringed as she put on the sopping clothes on.

Sasuke stared at the ceiling. He was thinking about his life. What was this sex doing to him? As of three minutes ago, Sasuke had been sober for twenty-four hours straight. That was the most amount of time he'd been sober in the past six months.

But there was something really getting him. Why didn't he feel the need to get drunk again?

Sasuke felt that perhaps he had this new depression helper. There was no longer a craving for alcohol. But when his obsidian eyes raved over Hinata, the craving came back. Sasuke relished in the fact that Naruto would never see the hot body Hinata hid beneath those heavy clothes of hers. Probably better than Sakura's.

He was startled from these thoughts as his front door slammed shut. She had left.

* * *

Hinata zoomed over the roofs towards her house. She felt like she had been buried underneath the weight of the world. 

Hinata landed in her yard, and quickly jumped into the large pine that grew just to the left of her window. From there, she snuck into her room, and quickly jumping into the shower.

This was a terrible situation. She had come back to Sasuke for comfort. He probably thought she was a whore, or thought she liked him like his fan girls.

Hinata stopped scrubbing her hair. She could not deny that Sasuke had always had plenty of sex appeal. He had been hot in the Academy and back when they were Rookie Nine. When he came back to Konoha, he was more handsome than ever. But when he began to drink, he became skinny and slimy like. Despite his sickly condition, he still had the dangerous edge to his looks, and was irresistible to most.

And during sex…well… ah…

Hinata blushed madly. She couldn't even function correctly when she thought about it. It was embarrassing.

Hinata got of the shower and wrapped a towel about her torso, and moved into her room. She recalled the last night while drying her hair.

They hadn't actually had sex in the shower, but had then moved to the bed, where the condoms were.

Hinata gulped. Sasuke was unnaturally good at sex. The second time was better than the first. Would the third be even better?

No! There would be no third! Hinata told herself this firmly. Hopefully, she would not even see his face again. Hinata sighed, and her thoughts wandered from Sasuke to the links he had towards her life.

They strayed to Naruto.

A terrible anger bubbled and roiled inside her suddenly. She was so surprised that she, Hinata, could be so angry at one person, especially the one she loved, that she nearly dropped the brush in her hand.

What exactly was she feeling right now? Anger, of course, but what caused it?

Betrayal.

She felt betrayed. Hinata scrolled back to the scene in her head.

_Hinata had stood there, her fingers tapping together so very nervously. She had opened and closed her mouth at least four different times. They were in the forest. She had asked Naruto to train with her. He was puzzled why they weren't doing so. Hinata had told him she had something to tell him._

"_N-Naruto..." she tried. Naruto's usually squinted blue eyes flashed open, looking at her closely. She was his friend, and she only stuttered when she was very nervous._

"_N-Naruto.." she repeated, "I l-like you a l-lot."_

_Naruto cocked an eyebrow. He was still clueless._

"_L-like more than a f-friend." She said, stuttering still, "S-since we were in the ac-cademy…"_

_Naruto was starting to get it. His eyes were wide with shock, and he stared down at her, his mouth partly open._

_Her lavender eyes were trained upon the ground. Her head rose to meet his eyes._

_In a small pleading voice, she uttered the words that rocked his world and flipped his stomach with horror. _

"_I think I love you, Naruto."_

_Time froze. Everything stopped, and the only people in the world were Hinata and Naruto. Nothing else mattered. The look on Naruto's face was killing her, and the look on her face was killing him. He didn't want to hurt her. It was like handling a fragile glass sculpture, with elaborate and exotic beauty he just didn't understand._

_You see, Naruto was used to breaking things._

_He moved finally, and enveloped Hinata in a hug. She buried her face into his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. He had accepted-_

_Hinata's thought was cut off as he spoke._

"_Hinata…" He whispered in her ear, and paused, then continued huskily, "I'm sorry… But I don't love you back."_

_Hinata felt worse than the time Neji had shot chakra into her heart, tearing the muscle into carefully designed pieces._

_She felt like she had been dealt the worst blow ever. She couldn't breath. Her vision blurred and faded out. She clenched her eyes shut and the tears spilled over._

_Not knowing how to think, Hinata shoved Naruto away, causing him to stumble back and fall onto his ass. Hinata ran off into the forest, sobbing._

_Naruto looked after her. He looked like a lost puppy who didn't know what to do next. He raised a hand after her. _

"_Hinata…" he breathed._

Their friendship had never been the same.

* * *

_Thunk! Thunk! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!_

Sasuke was infuriated. He had never missed so many Kunai targets since… since… since the Academy! It was sickening!

He stood there, in the middle of the clearing, fists shaking.

For the past three hours he had attempted to train, and failed miserably. He had been to the Hokage's office twice, requesting missions, and she had she had known that involved culling unarmed victims. He really thought she needed a better sense of humor, seeing as he had already done that with Orochimaru.

He couldn't stop thinking about Hinata. And sex.

He was amazingly frustrated that he couldn't damn well focus on training. It made him sick.

Not in his entire life had anything EVER distracted him from training, from going further, from getting closer to _him_.

It pissed him off to no end.

The memories of last night flashed in his mind all the FUCKING time.

The image of the moment when he broke their kiss in the shower. He had opened his eyes while withdrawing from their kiss, to b e met by a beautiful site.

Hinata opened her eyes slowly, her lashes holding tiny microscopic drops of water, to reveal her slightly lavender tinted eyes. She looked at him serenely, as if he was truly a life-saver, even if she had taken more lives than he had saved. Her dark hair so much like his streamed back from the water. It washed over her delicately, washing her tears away, her arms wrapped around his neck. He had smiled, then, and closed in for another kiss.

Sasuke, while thinking of this memory, was running to another target. Unfortunately, he hadn't been paying attention again.

The almighty Uchiha Sasuke, heir to his clan, and owner of the praised Sharingan, was taken down by a thick tree branch.

Sasuke landed on the ground flat on his back. He rose to sit cross-legged upon the ground; his hand's holding his face, where a nasty black eye was developing. He had a very angry look on his face.

If this kept up, he would end up killing himself with one of his own kunai, he'd be so distracted.

Sasuke got up.

He had an idea. He'd go beat up Naruto. Or… at least he'd get Naruto to train with him to have an excuse to beat him up.

Sasuke quickly headed towards Naruto's apartment.

* * *

Sasuke strode confidently to Naruto's door, and thumped his fist on it. 

He waited a minute as he heard footsteps come to the door.

The door swung open to reveal Sakura.

"Fuck." He stated at seeing her. Oh how he didn't want to see her pink-framed face right now.

"Hello to you too." She replied shortly, and then looked at his face, where he had a black eye. "What the hell happened to you??"

Sakura tilted her head to look at the bruise. Her left hand suddenly glowed green, and she raised it to heal his eye.

A cold hand caught her wrist, and the chakra faded away with her surprise.

"Don't touch me." Sasuke snarled his onyx eyes boring into her guilty teal ones.

He dropped her hand after a moment and she turned away.

"Naruto went on a quick mission this morning. He should be back in a few minutes." She said with a business-like tone, sashaying into her kitchen. "Come in. I'll make tea."

Sasuke hesitated. He did not want this right now.

Sakura glowered at him. "It's a few minutes, Sasuke"

Sasuke scowled and stepped into Naruto's apartment. He was enveloped with the odd scent of fresh cat litter mixed with sweat. That was Naruto's scent. But the scent laying over it smelled remotely like flowers. Sakura's.

Sasuke wrinkled his nose and sat at the table. He watched Sakura make tea with disapproving eyes. She could feel his glare in her back.

Sasuke looked at the microwaves clock. It had been five minutes since he entered the house.

"Minutes, huh, Sakura?" he said, pumping his words with venom.

Sakura ignored him, and turned around, setting two Chinese tea cups upon t he table. Sakura sipped hers. Sasuke glared at his, and then hesitantly sipped it.

Sakura watched him carefully. He was so tense, and his eye…

"What happened to your eye…?" she asked

"Where's Naruto?" he asked shortly after she asked her question.

Sakura's brows furrowed. Sasuke glared. They both sipped their tea.

"Sasuke." She said, putting on the same tone Tsunade used with her ninja as she assigned them missions, "I want you to know that I will never hurt you. I will never hurt Naruto. But I do love you and-"

Sakura had forgotten. Tsunade had nothing on Sasuke. He didn't give a fuck about her rank.

"Shut. Up." Sasuke growled. Sakura's eyes widened. The last time she had heard that was when he had beaten Naruto to a pulp when he tried to bring Sasuke back when they were fifteen.

"Shut the fuck up, Sakura." He said again, this time louder, "All you do is fucking babble."

Sasuke stood up. He crossed around the table, heading beeline to Sakura. She stood and backed away a few steps.

Sakura only began to cry when Sasuke's hand balled into a fist in her shirt, pulling her off the ground.

"You don't love me." Sasuke growled through gritted teeth, his eyes shut tight, "You don't even love Naruto. You're just a selfish bitch who needs to be put in her place."

Sasuke opened his eyes and stared at her, a look of pure contempt on his face. Sakura became very scared as she stared into the depths of the whirling black tomoe framed with crimson. Sasuke's Sharingan was frightening when you were the one who angered him.

He spoke in a quiet voice then, as him memories zoomed back to the Uchiha compound, back when it wasn't empty. His brother, mother, father and relatives. That was love. His voice was a hallow shell now, devoid of that feeling.

"You know nothing of love until you have lost it."

The words struck her hard. Almost as hard as Sasuke's fist into her face.

Sakura flew backwards, and into her counter. Dishes she had washed that day clanged onto the ground, and Sakura clutched her left eye. She was going to have a nasty black eye.

She watched with her right eye as Sasuke stomped out.

Sasuke needed comfort, revenge, and to cool down. He looked as the sun finally set beneath the horizon and he knew just where to go.

* * *

Hinata strolled down the street. She had efficiently forgotten Sasuke. She had gardened all day. She had gone to see Kurenai and her child. When she saw Kurenai living alone with a child, she had decided right then and there that it wasn't happening again. She and Sasuke would not happen. 

Hinata was heading towards the Yanamaka's Flower shop. She wanted to plant a nice petunia in a bare spot she had found.

She had five more feet to the door, when he hand was grasped, and she was spun around, and dragged into the dark alley next to the flower shop before she even had the chance to yelp in surprise.

She was suddenly pressed against the wall. Even in the shadows, she could make out his face, framed by his dark hair. It was Sasuke, and she could tell he was angry.

* * *

"Just do it, Shikamaru!" Ino finally yelled, frustrated. 

Ino had both hands on her hips, cocked to the side, and a very cute pout on her face.

Shikamaru thought she was very beautiful in that pose.

That was before his girlfriend gave him a small smack on the head.

Shikamaru pouted, and picked up the trash, muttering something about troublesome woman.

"What was that?!" Ino asked in warning, holding small dirt covered hand-shovel in warning.

"Nothing, Ino." He responded with a tiny smile, starting to walk towards the back.

Ino smiled, and continued to shovel into the dirt and spoon it into another pot.

Shikamaru headed towards the back with the full trash bag. He reached the door that went into the alleyway, and reached for it, glancing out the tiny window in the door.

Shikamaru was so surprised at what he saw he dropped his trash bag, and stared.

* * *

Sasuke closed in and caught her lips in a passionate kiss. Hinata resisted for a moment, before finally giving in and kissing him back, thankful that no one from the street could make out who the two were. 

Sasuke broke the kiss and watched her for a moment.

"Come." He said, taking her hand, and leading her down the alleyway towards his house.

Hinata let herself be lead away, her earlier vow forgotten, replaced by a new thought, _I'm needed..._

* * *

**A/N: Oh ho! Didn't see that comin' didja!?**

**I have no idea what the hell I'm doing with Shikamaru. He was not a part of my original plan. Oh well, yahoo for impulse!**

**Thanks to the new Alert system, I can see when you guys don't review and only add the story to your favorites or alerts. Haha! Review, otherwise you get less love than everyone else.**

**Ha. Sasuke punched Sakura. Sorry if I bash her around a bit, but it's needed for the drama!**

**If you are observant enough, you can see that Sasuke's statement rings true with both Sasuke and Hinata, hence the need for Hinata's flashback.**

**I've been eating crackers all day, and I'm still wearing that Santa hat.**

**Crackers to: ****mimi, Shining Serenity, coro, Clueless Naruto-kun, kades, TheYouthfulGreenLady, Hinata6, NanamiYatsumaki, LazyAssDragon, Kisa Tsutaka, crystaldrops14, subakukyuu, Housenka, TONI, Suzume-kage, Lori, Elladora, hyuga-suporter, darkzenith324, kenshinlover2002, gracemis, wittyying, GothanimeGirl666, princess-oro, winterkaguya, extraordinary.rocker, narutogurl109, hmfan24, **

**Congratulations, princess-oro! You made me laugh with your review. A lot. You get an honorable mention and… more crackers than everyone else.**

**Sorry for the slow update. Been busy. Hopefully once a week now.**


	4. Well Shit

* * *

Time soothes everything. 

The importance of a year, ask someone who has been told they'd live six months from cancer, but lived a year. For the value of a month, ask the mother whose child almost died, because he came a month early. For the value of a week, ask the father who dies a little every week his son is still missing. For the value of a day, ask the man who almost died in a robbery. For the value of an hour, ask the surgeon whose patient wouldn't have died if her surgery had been scheduled one hour earlier. For the value of a minute, ask the girl who's mother died a minute after they had traded I love you's. For the value of a second, ask the world record holder for the 100 meter dash.

Despite whatever the hell you say about time, you still need it.

It slowly calms the raging tide of an angry soul. It numbs the grief we feel when we lose something important. And it calm's everything.

It plows through everything. No matter how terrible the situation, and how nice the calm, time will never stop. There will be a time of terror and tension after every calm, and a period of calm after every disaster.

How long these periods will last? Only time will tell.

This period lasted two months.

The aftermath of Naruto's and Sakura's wedding had been a whole mess of mish-mash that gave even the most intellectual nin a chance to clutch him head, moan and garble, and even drool for a bit. Everyone found a way to cope, even those most affected by the crazy get-together. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as calm once again came over Konoha, and were thankful that the newly weds had been completely oblivious to the shit that their marriage had caused.

Yes, now that two months had passed, everything was much more mellow. Especially the one and only Sasuke Uchiha.

Seeing as he never got visitors, his secret would probably never get out.

Although, he was doing nothing to hide it, or get rid of it.

Sasuke slipped his arm about Hinata's waist, and drew her closer to his body with a contented sigh.

He was fading out of half asleep mode and into deep consciousness, burying his nose into her hair and inhaling her sweet, earthy garden scent, under laid with the smell of roses.

He slowly sank beneath the water and back into his dreamless sleep, when she moved.

_Fuck…_ his mind said faintly.

Sasuke's movement had accidentally awoken the once slumbering Hyuuga Hinata.

She clenched her eyelids together, and condensed, her fists curling, along with her toes and legs and inhaling a deep breath, her shoulders hunching, before letting her breath loose, along with her clenched muscles. A moment passed with her slow breathing, before Hinata's eyes parted, revealing the milky pearls they hid. She blinked thrice more times, her long lashes cutting the air.

She smiled faintly when she remembered where she was, and whose arm was wrapped about her waist. She listened to the again snoring Uchiha, before gently picking his arm up and slipping out from beneath it, leaving Sasuke beneath the covers alone. He sighed, a slight frown coming to his face, before his breathing returned to its normal rate.

Hinata's gaze lingered upon his pristine face for a moment longer, before her pearly orbs turned to the floor, where she began to collect and don her clothing, which had been scattered across the room where Sasuke had thrown them. She blushes slightly, and collected them, putting them on at a medium speed.

Contentedly, Hinata moved into the kitchen. She began to remove the necessary items to make omelets for breakfast.

This had become a morning routine. Hinata would get up, make breakfast, and poke Sasuke in wakefulness, feeding him a well-balanced meal. It had all started a week or so after their third time together. She had gotten up early, as per usual, and began to scramble on her clothes, to leave and go home. She had been getting out of the bed they had just shared, when a hand had caught her wrist. She had turned, fearfully, and looked at Sasuke's face. His had been still closed, and a cute pout on his face.

"Hinata…" he had mumbled, sleep weighing half of his voice down, '…Will you make me breakfast..?"

Hinata smiled, thinking of the odd memory. They had become what most would call… friends. They made small talk. They smiled at each other in place of a laugh, and they ate meals together.

It was nothing they planned, and not that they could, but they enjoyed each others company immensely. Silence wasn't awkward, because they both liked it. Hinata enjoyed the chance to make a difference in the Uchiha's life.

Hinata had also noticed that since she came, Sasuke hadn't even so much as sipped alcohol. And after what happened the last time she drank, she hadn't either.

Without that poisonous liquid slowly killing Sasuke's liver, he had developed an appetite. First he had tried to eat out, but he didn't know how to order. But with Hinata's breakfast's, the physically difference was astonishing. He was faster, stronger, and his brain reacted even better. The genius who had lost it all to the drink, had finally found his genius again. He had even note that he didn't look as much as that slimy dead snake Orochimaru.

Hinata was feeling the benefits of being around Sasuke. She stuttered less, she had plenty more confidence, and she was way less insecure. She trained better, and she wore those thick jackets less and less, trading them for light-weight zip up sweatshirts, which more much more practical for this hot weather. Most of all, he had distracted her from the hole Naruto had ripped open in her heart. She no longer felt the need to cry every time she saw Naruto. Sakura no longer made her soul ignite with the flames of revenge. She seemed…happier.

Hinata poked her head into Sasuke's room. She blinked down at him. His chin was dug into the pillow, his mouth open and loud snores issuing from the space. She suppressed a giggle.

"Sasuke?" she called softly. He mumbled something incoherent.

Hinata entered the room. "Sasuke?" she called, a bit louder.

She moved closer and gave him a poke in his ribs. Sasuke groaned and rolled-over.

Hinata pouted for a moment. She got closer, and bent over his face. Her lips whispered over his ears.

"If you don't get up for your breakfast, I will never cook for you again." She whispered.

Sasuke's eyes parted to reveal the black voids that were his ever changing eyes. Hinata glanced at them, and lunged back at the perfect moment, just barely missing his arm, which had been poised and waiting to catch her and roll her onto the bed where he could do god knows what to her.

Hinata stood up, and glared at him. Sasuke yawned. If looks could kill, even a fly could survive around Hinata.

Sasuke stood up, and stretched. Hinata averted her eyes and left the room to serve the omelets.

Sasuke put n a pair of boxers, and headed out into the kitchen. Hinata had just finished setting down two cups of coffee n the table when he sat down. Hinata sat down, and they began to eat their omelets in silence.

To the two quiet people, the silence was golden.

Sasuke and Hinata often talked over breakfast. Small sentences included a lot of nodding. But they spoke, none-the-less. The part was that they spoke like they cared. In reality, their friendship entered the moment they walked out the door. In public, they acted like they always had: Strangers. They didn't know each other, and they have never spoken. That's the way it was. Sasuke often wondered why their relationship was never public.

He would immediately erase that thought after thinking about Sakura, Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Shino, Kurenai, and Hiashi. They would all pulverize him, except for Sakura, who would cry, then pulverize Hinata.

How did Hinata make everyone like her? He didn't know. She was just… magical, he supposed.

Sasuke blinked, and asked, "What are you doing today?" he said bluntly.

Truly, he didn't really care. They were never going to meet up at the Ramen stand in their free time or anything like that. They spoke like this everyday at breakfast. They would share tiny snippets of their lives and souls with each other, and contain within these walls.

It reminded Sasuke of his counseling, except he was plenty more comfortable in his home.

It used to be just a house, when his family had departed. Sasuke looked at the dirtied pan on the stove, and decided it was home once again.

Hinata had become comfortable here too. Away form the prying Byakugan eyes and the disappointed elders wrinkled frowns, she could actually relax, and smile.

"Mmm." Hinata said her mouth full; she swallowed and then responded, "Training with Kiba and Shino."

It was her usual answer, other than going on a small mission, helping at the Academy, or training with someone else, or perhaps having the day off.

Hinata sipped her tea. "And you?" she asked softly, her creamy eyes meeting his obsidian ones.

Sasuke grunted in response, as he chewed some egg and cheese. He swallowed and took a drink of Coffee, before responding.

"Mission."

Hinata nodded. She had finished the last of her omelet. Sasuke collected their dished and brought them to the sink, turning on the water and adding a bit of soap. He began to scrub one, as Hinata got herself a dry dish towel to help with the drying. She dried the dishes and put them away as he washed.

Hinata stretched up to put the last dish away and finally got it in its secure position. No sooner had she returned to standing upon the whole length of her foot when she was whipped around, and Sasuke's lips pressing into hers passionately.

Hinata stared at him wide-eyed, and finally accepted the kiss, opening her mouth to him, and her eyelids slowly sank shut. When Sasuke broke the kiss, they were breathing heavily.

Sasuke smirked at her, and licked his lips, still holding her close.

"My mission lasts for three days, and I needed a final taste." He explained smugly.

Hinata blushed, aware of t he fact that the parting gift she had given him had been forced. That didn't mean she hadn't enjoyed it though…

Sasuke released her.

"Ah… Good-bye..Sasuke.."Hinata muttered, heading out the door. She needed to go home and shower.

"See ya." Sasuke muttered. He gazed after her, satisfied that he had made her nervous and surprised with the kiss.

Sasuke wondered if she hoped he didn't get hurt. He hadn't told her it was A-rank. He hadn't told her it was with Naruto. He hadn't told her he was now a Jounin.

* * *

Neji sat, poised upon the stool. He was balanced precariously upon a tall stool for the counter, cross-legged, meditating as he always did in the morning. His eyes were closed, strands of his silky dark brown hair hanging in his face. His position was specific. He was working on showing more emotions. He was doing it for a specific reason, too, one that he didn't like to discuss, because he didn't like it when people figured out he took interest in girls. 

He was concentrating on void. He felt nothing, and he saw nothing. His chakra stopped completely, and he almost felt like he was dead.

The genius' eyelids flickered when he faintly heard Hinata's shower go on two stories up. Other than that, the Hyuuga mansion was silent.

If one was to turn on their Byakugan and look around, one would see that although the Hyuuga residence was silent, it was not, however, empty. Servants scurried, and Hyuuga's moved about in their rooms. No m ore than two Hyuuga's were in a room at a time. They weren't really all that social, save maybe Hanabi.

The shower upstairs shut off. Neji's eyebrow twitched. He focused more closely on a single point of white that filled the black void that was meditation. He became delighted as a face began to appear inside the white dot.

Somewhere else, where she was beating a log into a pile of sawdust, Tenten sneezed.

Neji's eyes opened when he heard Hinata coming down the stairs.

Every morning, Neji broke his concentration on Tenten's face, to watch Hinata come downstairs from her room. She said hello to him every morning. Neji would nod and say Good morning back to her, and then they would carry on with the rest of the day.

Hinata and Neji's fight had been years ago, and neither of them treated each other badly. They simply, co-existed. They started the day everyday with a warm hello, and everything that day seemed better. Food taste better, sunlight felt better. Truly, the best way to a good today is a good morning. So, everyday, they said hello to each other.

Today, something was different. Hinata's steps coming down the stairs were faster today. Neji looked at the opening of where she would appear and waited.

He was stunned to watch Hinata speed around the corner, her face a look of horror. She whisked past him and into the bathroom that was attached to the kitchen.

Her hand, white knuckled, gripped the frame of the door as her head was hidden around the corner, the noises of her retching coming from her.

Neji watched her back, stunned and concerned. Her puking had been very sudden. Neji was taken-aback. Was Hinata sick? As her guardian, an sort of friend, he was very concerned.

Finally, she was done. Hinata stood up, wiped her mouth, and began to fast-walk away.

"Hinata-sama…?" Neji asked, his eyes slightly wide, tracking her as she moved.

Hinata leaned her head forward, her dark raven hair falling forward to conceal her face, but not before he caught her blush. She was… embarrassed?

Hinata stiffly raised her hand as she whisked past on the opposite side of the counter in greeting. "Good Morning, Neji-kun" she said quickly.

For some reason, the words were not comforting or enjoyable to Neji today.

* * *

Hinata had come into the house like she always did: Climb the pine tree and through the window. 

She had quickly gotten into the shower, thinking numbly of the kiss Sasuke had given her. She was going to miss those for the next three days. Suddenly, a crippling pain had erupted in her gut. She clutched her belly and fell to her knees in the shower, waiting for it to wash away.

When it did, she quickly finished up and got out of the shower. While changing she began to feel cramps and discomfort. She was feeling very sick and nauseas.

Hinata had grimaced and ignored it. When she one story below her room, she realized she was going to throw up, and that she desperately needed a toilet. She was panicked to know that the closet was in the kitchen, where Neji was.

Oh well, it would be worse if she puked upon the floor. She had rushed into the bathroom and leaned over the toilet, and completely eradicated her well-made omelet.

Hinata had flushed the toilet and left as quickly left, giving poor Neji swift good-bye.

Hinata leaned against the front door of the mansion, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was thankful she was out of there. Neji probably thought she was terribly weak, to throw-up in front of him.

Hinata ran her hand up her forehead and pushed back her hair to cool down. Her eyes closed shut, for a moment's peace. Her eyes snapped open once again, wide pearls. She whipped her head over the railing, and puked into the bushes beside her house. She had puked up bile because there was nothing else left.

Hinata wiped her mouth, once again, and headed off to train alone.

* * *

Somewhere in a forest, Sasuke was having some serious trouble. 

He had shallow wounds all over his body, due to his lack of attention during this mission. He had tripped on numerous branches and odd bits of tree bark as they sailed through the trees, and his splitting headache was not helping him focus.

Ten of Naruto's body parts to the person who guesses who the cause of Sasuke's headache is.

Sasuke simply couldn't stop thinking about the taste of Hinata's sweet lips. That kiss hadn't been enough.

"BUT SHE WONT TELL ME!"

Sasuke winced as he was jarred from his thoughts by the stupid moron's way too loud voice beside him.

For the past two months, Sasuke had deliberately avoided Sakura and Naruto, seeing Naruto only long enough to exchange hello's and promises of training together as soon as he wasn't busy.

Of course, he had been lying. He had been avoiding Naruto JUST for this reason.

The idiot could not stop ranting about the black eye Sakura had gotten awhile ago. And although it had healed by now, Naruto COULDN'T WAIT to whine all about it to Sasuke. Hence the headache.

So far, Sasuke had said nothing.

His mission was with Shikamaru and Naruto. Thankful he at least had Shikamaru to have a sane conversation with; he had been sorely disappointed when he found out that Shikamaru wouldn't even look at him other than to order him around, seeing as he was leader of the mission. Sasuke hadn't even done anything to the kid and Shika acted like he didn't even exist.

"And so you see, she wouldn't even heal it. She just said it was her business." Naruto said, his voice hopeless, "And I am so worried, I don't know what to do…"

Sasuke shook his head. Why the hell Sakura hadn't healed the bruise after he left was beyond him.

"…she probably deserved it…" Sasuke mumbled, clutching the side of his head that ached with his headache.

Naruto stopped. Sue to reactions, so did Sasuke and Shikamaru.

"_What_ did you say..?" Naruto hissed in question at Sasuke, aggression obvious in his voice.

Sasuke let go of his head and raised his eyes, looking Naruto in the eyes, black to blue.

"Nothing." He stated coldly, his tone dripping venom.

Naruto got angrier, as he began to jump from one conclusion to the next. His head lowered, shading his eyes. He trembled with rage for a moment, before his head snapped up, screaming. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, BASTARD?!?!??!?!??!"

Naruto rushed Sasuke and Sasuke did nothing, although he was fully capable of retaliating. Shikamaru tensed, but caught the Uchiha's obsidian eye. It was best not to get in the middle of this dispute, and there was nothing he could do now.

Naruto picked Sasuke up by the collar, and slammed him into the trunk of a tree, creating a dent. Sasuke grunted, his head down. He did nothing. He simply stared at the ground, his hair falling over his eyes.

There was a pause, filled only with the noise of Naruto's violent breathing. Then Sasuke's voice rang out, barely above a whisper, but the force of his words made a booming echo.

"I don't want to hurt you, Naruto." Sasuke said, still not moving. Sasuke was not talking about fighting at all. Although Naruto and he were just about equally matched, the sickening truth was that with a slip of a sentence, Sasuke could severely damage Naruto's mental health. This was neither the time nor place for such conduct.

Naruto didn't catch the drift that this wasn't about fighting. He gave Sasuke a glare, before picking him up, and re-slamming Sasuke into the tree, holding him there. "Bastard!" he yelled in Sasuke's face, "You can't do shit!!!"

His blue eyes blazed as he stared at the shadows tat covered Sasuke's eyes. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!??!?!" Naruto screamed into his face, "SHE HAS DONE NOTHING TO YOU! SHE IS THE NICEST, KINDEST, MOST PERFECT ANGEL-"

Sasuke seriously almost puked. Sakura was a lying bitch. And she didn't love Naruto like she claimed. That wasn't love. She gave love a bad name, especially when she said she loved him. Sakura didn't even know him.

"No." Sasuke cut Naruto off, his voice stern and commanding, "She isn't."

Sasuke thought about what he was doing, and the repercussions. "And she deserved that punch I gave her." He said after a pause, finally deciding.

A fist slammed into the tree, right next to Sasuke's face. Splinters of wood bounced off his face. Sasuke's head slowly looked up at Naruto's face.

Naruto's eyes were crimson red, similar to his sharingan, the pupils cat-like slits. His face markings were bigger and wider at the bottom, and his mouth had fangs. Sasuke could feel the chakra of the demon pulsating through Naruto's body.

Sasuke stared, and thought, _Well, Shit…._

* * *

**A/N: Woo! I cut it close, but technically, its only been one week, cause its still Monday. So, yes, here's your weekly update.**

**I really tried on this one. Long paragraphs, and extra pages. I hope you enjoy, and I think I got better.**

**Shikamaru not part of original plan. But boy! Is it fun to make him show up where everything is happening or what?!? **

**I have mock trial camp this week, so I don't think I'll be able to get you a chapter on Monday, but I'll try.**

**I tried to keep the characters in character, so I had to make Sasuke be aggressive with the kiss.**

**Also, if you have a fic that you'd like me to read that focus' on one of the following pairings: SasuHina, ShikaIno, NaruSaku, NejiTen, then drop me a comment, and I'll check it out, and maybe give some critique. They are in order from my absolute favorite to less of a favorite.**

**Those of you who put this n your favorites for alerts, I save the email alerts I get, and I only delete them AFTER you have reviewed, so that's something to think about!.**

**I was eating Nilla's today, so I guess that's it.**

**Nilla's to: ****LazyAssDragon, TONI, queen46, wittyying, twiggysteph, TheYouthfulGreenLady, Chibi-Muse-chan, Housenka, numba neko93, A Robbed Heart, Andrea Meiouh, NanamiYatsumaki, Lady Of Genesis, subakukyuu, pseudo-cynic89, hmfan24, kenshinlover2002, GothanimeGirl666, VVish, nappyhead, Riiiceballe, shikamaru is mine, crystaldrops14, mimi, gracemis, narutogurl109, Melodramatic Writer, Hinata6, Violetppg.**


	5. Stunned

**A/N: Please excuse my absence. I had Mock Trial, and then I had to go away for eight days over the Fourth of July. Then I slept over at my friend's house, and he slept over at mine and he just left like five hours or so ago.**

* * *

**stun·ning** (stnng) 

_adj._

**1. **Causing or capable of causing emotional shock or loss of consciousness.

**stun** (stn)

_tr.v._ **stunned**, **stun·ning**, **stuns**

**3. **To stupefy, as with the emotional impact of an experience; astound

It wasn't everyday that the Hokage's Golden Boy and local genius could say he had these emotions, but this past year had certainly proved it possible. Plenty of things had very much so stunned Nara Shikamaru.

His first stun of the year was when he found that not one, but two girls were after his lazy attention. Temari and Ino's competition over his affection had literally stunned him into silence. The by hadn't said a word. Temari was more forward than Ino, for he made an accurate guess that Ino wasn't quite sure how to deal with Shikamaru, her best friend in his boyhood, and now suddenly a man in her eyes. Ino had been debating whether or not her feelings were true, in all reality, but the moment she saw Temari get in his face and flirt while he stood by nervously had flared one of the biggest traits of Ino: Competitiveness.

Ino had faced Sakura in an attempt to win Sasuke over, and they had nboth lost in the end, but Ino more so. Ino was far over him, anyway.

Yet she was determined not to lose again.

And as she forced Shika into going on more and more dates with her, she realized it wasn't just a competition anymore, and she was actually starting to like him. Shikamaru enjoyed these dates too. But the real wake up call was when Ino full out confessed her final emotions for him, in the only way Ino could feel comfortable doing so: yelling.

That had been the best screaming of Shikamaru's life, and after hearing (rather loudly) what she had said, he decided that maybe… just maybe… Ino wasn't all that troublesome after all.

Shikamaru was also shocked when Sakura relented to going out with Naruto, and again when they got married. He was also shocked when he ended up being best man, and not Sasuke.

A stun and shock he had not been expecting at all was the make out seen between Sasuke and Hinata. He hadn't told Ino. He knew what would happen then. Eventually he would, though.

He had been avoiding the Uchiha on this mission, seeing him so distracted from being away from what Shikamaru guessed as his play toy.

But the moment he heard that Sasuke had punched, as in assaulted Sakura, a girl of all things, Shikamaru felt disgusted.

Shikamaru had a ninja way. He would never EVER hit a girl. And he followed it. Every time he faced an enemy kunoichi, it got tougher and tougher, he always had to find a way to defeat her without ever touching her.

But Sasuke had shamelessly hit Sakura, punched, no less. This unspeakable act was like blasphemy to Shikamaru's ears. How could he?

Shikamaru watch as Naruto swing a deadly fist at Sasuke, who deftly caught it, an angry scowl on his face, but a flicker of…sadness? In his eyes.

Sasuke freed himself from Naruto's grip, and kicked him away. Naruto took it, but from the way he landed, little force was put into it.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. Sasuke obviously didn't want to fight.

"Naruto." Came the Uchiha's sullen voice, "This fight is meaningless. Stop."

Shikamaru watched as Kyuubi's vessel grew angrier.

Shikamaru shot a glare at Sasuke, who missed it. While he knew that both were quite evenly matched, Sasuke was unwilling to fight, and Naruto was raring to go. The odds were tilted in the blonde ninja's favor… and Shikamaru had half a mind to let Naruto off his leash and beat the bajeezuz out of Sasuke, but…

The mission.

They were on an A-rank mission, and none of them could afford to have damage upon them before they even got there.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

Shikamaru was zoomed back into reality as Naruto and his clone began to form the Oodama Rasengan.

Sasuke stood there, his obsidian eyes watching Naruto form the deadly move. He still stood there, when Naruto began to charge.

"Hinata…" he whispered to himself. Sasuke felt ridiculous as his mind summoned the image of his lover. Wait… Lover? Sasuke thoughts they were friends. Friends didn't have sex when they could get away with it. He supposed girlfriend wasn't a suitable term. They had sex, and they ate breakfast together. Lover was indeed the best term, but Sasuke felt odd. Love-r. It just seemed…well… fitting.

As the swirling globe of blue raced closer to Sasuke, Shikamaru did some hand seals. _Please let it reach…._

Naruto felt like he had tripped, but he didn't fall. Naruto growled when his Rasengan and clone poofed, and he struggled against going into the same pose as the calm Shikamaru.

Sasuke blinked at Shikamaru. Naruto growled with feral intention.

"If you haven't noticed…" Shikamaru drawled, "This is an A-rank mission. You are Jounin, so act like them. Your childish antics are endangering not only your life, but also this mission, and therefore the safety of Konoha. I don't care what happened when-" Shikamaru gave Naruto a pointed look, "-or any other outside issues." Shikamaru gave Sasuke a knowing look.

Sasuke tensed, his eyes widening a bit._ He knows…. _Sasuke thought with inward panic, _He knows about me and Hinata…_

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's surprise. Sasuke looked away, his usual emotionless mask back upon his face, firmly in place.

"Got it?" Shikamaru asked sharply.

Sasuke nodded numbly, While Naruto growled, then relented, and nodded.

Shikamaru nodded, and released Naruto. "Lets go." He stated.

It was the last thing said until they arrived at their destination.

* * *

_Thunk!Thunk!Thunk!Woosh!Woosh!Woosh!Woosh!_

Hinata set down lightly upon the ground, her fist shaking in anger.

She was training by herself. After throwing up three times she had decided to skip out on Kiba and Shino, instead Target Training by herself. Her aim was getting steadily worse and worse. Oh was she mad.

Something stirred in her gut, and she felt like she had been kicked by a mule. Hinata fell to her knees, and wretched up foul smelling bile onto the ground. She stood and wiped her mouth. She was so embarrassed. Hinata collected her kunai. It was time to go home and rest.

As she zoomed home, a scary thought struck her, and she immediately pushed it away. _Just some bad eggs…_ She assured herself _... Right...?_

* * *

**A/N: And so ends this shitty chapter. Truly I don't care its super short, its just necessary. So screw you, whoever you are.**

**Too lazy to write everyone's names and I'm so tired. Too damn bad, here's the update.**

**Thanks for reviewing. I keep all the emails I get of people who just favorite and don't review. Imma start listing you guys.**


	6. Of Blood and BandAids

**A/N: Well Hay thar everyone. I was feeling kind of down in the dumps with my writing for a bit (and I couldn't update cause my cousin was here) but with a few pushes from my RPing buddies and a flurry of five or so unexpected reviews of this story, I have the motivation to write it. I also have another SasuHina story in my head, and I think you will all love it. But I am going to complete it before I post it. **

* * *

"Ahhhhh….grrr!!"

Sasuke's yell echoed across the water, the Mist Nin who threw the Shruiken gave a satisfied grunt.

This only fed Sasuke's unadulterated anger, and the Mist nin didn't live much longer.

At around two in the morning, Shikamaru's team began to initiate the ambush upon a sector of Mist nin base, in hopes of assassinating an A-rank Missing nin in the Bingo Book, who had joined into the Village Hidden in the Mist's shinobi. What they hadn't expected was that they were expected, and the ambush was on them.

Darkness….

At three in the morning, they had been fighting for an hour, yet the sun wouldn't start peeking over the far horizon until at least 4:30 in the morning.

At two in the morning, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke had slipped into a Reed boat, which by intelligence would be waiting for them on the side of the lake. The barracks where the Nin was hiding was on an island, being Mist Nin. Being a barracks, any other sort or unnatural transportation (i.e. Chakra feet on Water) would b e immediately sensed and the alarms would go off.

So when they were half way across the lake an Naruto accidentally rocked the boat, and to save it, stuck a Chakra infused hand onto the Water to stop the boat from flipping, and the alarms didn't go off, Shikamaru new plans had changed or the worst.

Now, fighting a large amount of Mist Nin who all had the same covered uniforms on while on their best territory, a lake, was not good.

Naruto had already figured that he'd have to kill them all, seeing as one of them was the target.

Shikamaru had already figured that their Target had left to hide away in the Mist Village, rather than risk being killed, and therefore killing all of these nin would be unnecessary, and that it would also start a war. Therefore, they had to kill enough for the Mist to retreat.

Sasuke just wanted to go home, and sleep in bed.

He continued to repeat this motto as he pulled the Shruiken from his lower arm and sliced into the Mist nin who threw it, his katana entering in the intersection of his neck and shoulder, cutting down at an angle, and stopping.

Blood sprayed onto Sasuke's face as he jerked his sword free, and he felt a little bit better.

Sasuke daintily stepped over the carcass and jolted into a run, his sword meeting and then piercing the flesh of a Mist nin sneaking up on Shikamaru as he killed a multitude of foe's with his Shadow hand.

Sasuke nodded to Shikamaru before running off again.

He just wanted to go home. Go home and rest. Curl up in his warm bed. Next to-

Sasuke stopped that train of thought with a kick to another nin's face.

Funny how much more desperate you were to live when you had something you wanted to get back to at home, eh?

* * *

"_Hinata…." Came his sensual whisper form his full pale red lips, just before they captured hers in a gentle embrace. Hinata responded, sliding her hands up his forearm, ready to accept his hug. Her hand met with something warm and wet, and as Hinata brought her hand back to look at what this substance was, she was alarmed to see her hand covered in crimson blood._

Eyelids adorned with sft long lashes snapped open, smooth, creamy white eyes filled with urgency looking around the room.

Hinata realized where she was in a moment, but didn't relax. After sleeping as in snoring with Sasuke for so long, Hinata's room seemed alien. Her eyes went to her window, seeig that it was just before daybreak, around five in the morning. Her chest heaved with panicked breath, and she sat up, swinging her legs out from under the covers and into the ground, standing up.

Hinata immediately regretted that decision when a pain in her stomach sounded nastily, and Hinata shot into her bathroom, puking into the porcelain bowl and flushing it down. Hinata wiped her mouth, and shut her bathroom door, locking it, before shuffling back to the toilet for another morning of puking.

Yesterday the barfing had stopped mid-morning. She had lain in bed for the rest of the day.

Hinata brought her knees up to her chest, and waited for the next wave of nausea.

What should she do? Obviously, she was sick, in some shape or form. She would go to a doctor… there was just one problem…

She feared a public doctor would discover something more.

She could go to Tenten? No… Tenten had no medical history. It would be a waste of time.

Ino? Never. Despite Ino's kindness and confidence-boosting compliments the girl couldn't hold her mouth.

Sakura?

Hinata hesitated, leaned over the bowl, and puked.

Hinata wiped her mouth. Despite their past awkwardness, Sakura was a reliable Med-Nin. She knew how to keep her mouth shut, and she had a business-like maturity about her now that she had grown up from that whining weakling that she once was. She was married to Naruto, sure, but Hinata was over Naruto now, right?

If she went anywhere else it would be public.

Hinata nodded to herself. Yes, Sakura was the best bet. She would go there.

Hinata waited another hour until it was around six o'clock in the morning before swallowing own the nauseous feeling, before heading out, giving Neji a good bye. He did not return one to her, but merely watched her with worry.

Hinata was unnerved by this, but quickly forgot it as she almost puked again, and hurried out the door.

Upon arriving at Sakura's, Hinata's fist hovered above the door, readying herself. Finally, she knocked.

A yawning Sakura came to the door, still dressed in pajamas and clutching a mug of coffee by the handle.

"Oh, hey Hinata…" Sakura greeted kindly, "Naruto's out on a mission…"

"I'm here to see you…actually…" Hinata said in a very quiet tone.

Sakura became more alert. "Wha? What is it? Are you sick..?" _Why would you come to me privately..? _

Hinata gulped.

"Ah…" She started nervously. Sakura caught the tone of urgency, but could not have predicted the words Hinata said next.

"I need a pregnancy test."

* * *

The leaves he stared at faded in and out of focus. A blow to the head was affecting his balance and vision. Blood made its way down his cheek. 

Sasuke's breath was uneven and shuddering. He bore many wounds. He was in around the same condition as the others.

Bloody and beaten. Chakra nearly depleted to nothing.

A long but shallow gash traced its way across Naruto's chest. Shikamaru had multiple steel Nin-needles stuck into him, which he was daintily picking out of his flesh with a grimace.

It was noon, and the sun was high. The fight had been a long one, full of blood and gore, but the Mist Nin had finally retreated, leaving the beaten Leaf Nin surrounded by the floating bodies of their kills. By the time they had walked across the lake, their feet were sinking into the water from lack of Chakra.

Now they rested in a tree, silent, save for the grunt of Shikamaru picking yet anther needle from his muscle.

"At sunset we move into the village." Shikamaru said, nearly making Sasuke jump off his limb, "We'll meet an Info-Spy and find out where the Target was staying. We finish him off tonight, and travel back tomorrow." Shikamaru flipped them each a soldier pill.

As soon as Naruto had crunched on his, the Fox's chakra began to sew together the long cut on his chest. Naruto snarled. Despite it being amazingly useful, when the Chakra healed his cuts that fast, it was just as painful as getting the cut.

Sasuke's vision focused in and he felt much better after the pill, his breath evening. Shikamaru did the same.

"Naruto, you take watch first. Wake me up in a few-" Shikamaru said, but Sasuke didn't hear his final words, as he was already floating to sleep.

* * *

Sakura shook her head. 

This was unbelievable.

Sakura h ad been completely speechless when Hinata had come to see her in the first place, but when she asked for a pregnancy test, Sakura nearly called her a liar and laughed.

They had spent the morning talking about symptoms.

Sakura was still trying to get it into her head that if Hinata wanted a pregnancy test that meant she was possibly pregnant and that meant that she has had sex, which raised so many questions, and seemed completely unreal.

Actually, since Hinata had been puking for the past few days, that meant that she must have conceived at least a few weeks ago, which meant that she had been having sex for how long?

Sakura shook her head again, and dropped Hinata's DNA sample into the Pregnancy test, turning around and waiting. Sakura carefully watched Hinata. She went over the answers to her questions.

No, I haven't eaten any spoiled food.

No, I haven't had my period.

Yes, multiple times.

Yes, it was the same guy every time.

Sakura blinked. Hinata knew who the father was. Sakura had carefully skirted the subject of who he was. Part of her feared she would say 'Naruto' because he used to be Hinata's one and only. Sakura turned around. The pregnancy was done. Hinata now had two Band-Aids to rip off, so to say. Why not rip them off at the same time?

Sakura filled her chest with air and walked over to Hinata, sitting down delicately opposite her nervous friend.

And then, in a very brisk and business-like manner, Sakura asked, "So, who's the father?"

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so how'd you like it?**

**I'd list your names, but there's too many of you, but you all get Half baked Ben and Jerry's Ice cream, because that's what I last ate.**

**You are all my motivation!! Keep reviewing!!**


	7. Village of the Bloody Mist

**A/N: It took me so long to write this chappie because I had it formed in my mind, but I couldn't figure out how to split it up. Finally I did, and I hope you're not dissatisfied with it. I'll be leaving for two weeks, and hopefully I'll be able to pre-write the chapters in the car. I'll be releasing the next Then and now chappie too.**

**Oh, and if you didn't know, I have another SasuHina fic up on my profile, called Then and Now. It's AU, but I expect you all to come and take a look. It's really good.**

**To the Story!**

* * *

The world froze over, and Hinata's breath caught in her throat as a terrifying lump materialized in her wind pipe. Her hand unconsciously went up to her throat as she tried in futile to breath. 

Hinata was completely stunned. Although, yes, she knew the first signs of pregnancy and yes, she had them. She shouldn't have been surprised, or as affected as she was right now. She shouldn't be, but there was something nagging at the edge of her mind, in the blind spot of her Byakugan, something she wasn't able to predict or know.

What if?

What if her family found out?

What if she was disowned?

What if the child wasn't normal?

What if her family forced an abortion?

What if she miscarriaged?

What if she had the child premature?

What if she died during child birth?

What if childbirth rendered her unable to be a ninja?

What if she died while the child was young on a mission?

What if Sasuke didn't want it?

What if her child grew up without a father?

What if Sasuke abandoned her?

The last three questions of her thoughts nearly sent her into Epileptic shock, when a tug at her sleeve pulled her into reality, unwillingly. Hinata's eyes snapped into focus, and she focused on Sakura, who was just speaking.

"Hinata?" she asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"

Hinata looked a bout wildly. She needed to escape. She had to get free. The room was too enclosed. Hinata stood up abruptly.

"I….have to go." She said hurriedly, unable to think of any excuse. She bustled toward the door, but something caught her sleeve.

Hinata's scared creamy orbs turned to stare into Sakura's teal ones. Her eyes were filled with sympathy and worry.

"Hinata if you need anything at all, come to me. I won't tell anyone. I'll be your personal doctor." She said reassuringly, "Just come to me."

Hinata felt unsure. Yet the warm feeling that crawled into her chest that someone was there, fighting for her and her child was a comfort, and she nodded shakily, offering the tiniest of smiles. Enough to show her immense gratitude amidst her panic.

Then Hinata hurried out of the door, and Sakura closed it behind her, full of nothing but worry for her friend. Despite her heavy thoughts, Sakura began to clean the apartment while thinking of helpful things for Hinata. After all, Naruto was going to be home in the morning.

* * *

Hinata was so confused. What was she to do now? Here she stood, on the roof of a building between the Training Grounds, Sasuke's place, and her room. She gulped. She knew of only one thing: 

She didn't want to go home.

Hinata sprang ff in the direction f the training grounds, to find her Hyuuga Guardian.

At the training fields, Hinata immediately used her Byakugan to spot Neji. As per usual, he was training with Tenten. Hinata could've sword that he spent more time training or just being near Tenten than he did actually at the mansion. She watched as they clashed.

It was odd, as Neji was not using Juuken or his Byakugan or even Kaiten. It seemed that most of his clothing was cut to pieces as he simply attempted to dodge the hail of sharp pointy things Tenten could whip at you. Tenten was a deadly kunoichi, and was a dangerous opponent, but Neji had never had an issue with this. The ground around them was littered with scrolls, craters, and weapons. From a logical view point, it seemed that during the course o f the day, Neji had run out of Chakra, and Tenten had ran out of weapons. Now they were down to fighting with a Kunai each, and the battle seemed evenly matched.

Hinata watched as Tenten, much in the same condition as Neji, panted across the clearing away from Neji. He was also resting. But within a second, they were both alert, and sprinting towards each other. Hinata blinked at how they could use deadly weapons against each other, but she supposed that after training together for so long, one got used to it.

They clashed in the center of the clearing, their Kunai raised to their chins, the sharp blades clashing and holding with a spark. They were momentarily still, but within a second they had moved, Tenten twirling and striking at Neji's face. He deftly blocked her attack, and placed an attack of his own. This type of combat was so close; it probably shouldn't even be done in real combat. So close to each other, ones ragged breath disturbed the others hair. From a distance, it looked like they were dancing.

Hinata mused that this was probably the only kind of dancing Hyuuga Neji knew how to do.

She approached slowly, rather sheepish for interrupting such a personal-looking training session. Neji's quick senses and Tenten's sharp eyes identified her at once the moment she came into view. They broke away from each other, and Tenten was suddenly very interested on a certain nick in her Kunai blade.

Neji approached wearily, his fatigue obvious in his gait, but his eyes showing the same proud and noble look they usually did. Neji's eyes narrowed as soon as he reached her.

"You look pale. Is there something wrong?" he asked bluntly. No need for foreplay.

Hinata nearly winced. It was odd that watching Neji's and Tenten's alluring dace could distract her from her current crisis so well. Hinata took a breath.

"I'm going to be staying overnight at a friends." She stated to him.

Neji looked at her suspiciously. "Are you sure?" he asked, "You look sick."

"I'm fine." Hinata quickly assured. Too quickly for Neji's liking. He remembered her throwing up and her odd behavior recently. His mouth opened to object.

"Nejiiiiiii!!!!!" called a voice. Obviously Tenten had gotten bored examining that nonexistent nick. "Are you coming?"

Hinata took this chance to escape. "Bye Neji." She said hurriedly, running off into the trees. Neji nodded slowly, belated realizing he hadn't asked her what friend she was going to. Neji instead turned around and went back towards Tenten, raising his kunai. She sent him a sloppy smile, and he returned hers with a small one of his own. Then they were running at each other again.

Hinata watched for one more prolonged second as the pair clashed together, before she zoomed away.

She was headed toward her comfort zone. In the Hyuuga mansion, full of Byakugan users who were just raring to dig up dirt on one another with their prying eyes, she never felt at ease, not even in her own room. For some reason, after spending nights with Sasuke, she had developed an attachment for h is home. She knew that she was always welcome there, no matter the circumstance. She always felt better in her comfort zone.

Hinata creaked the front door to Sasuke's home open. She felt uneasy as she passed t he empty houses that surrounded the area, and he had quickly sped into the one house that Sasuke inhabited. She slipped into his room without a sound, and curled up underneath his covers.

Thoughts whirled in her head, and she slowly forced herself to push these away as she drifted into sleep just as the sun went down.

* * *

_Sasuke watched as tears slid down her pale face, her expression sad and sorrowful. Almost… guilty._

_Her lush lips moved slowly, sound emitting quiet just enough for his ears. _

"_Sasuke… I am so sorry…"_

_The words nearly broke his heart in two. His hand immediately reached out for her, to dry her tears, touch her cheeks, comfort her sorrow, but the image faded the moment he moved, and h e shouted his anguish as the dream also faded away._

Sasuke awoke with a start, his whole body tensing and jumping, as if he had sneezed. He looked around, realizing where he was, exactly. The sun was just touching the horizon. Sasuke realized that they would set out soon for the criminal. Sasuke looked back around, and his polished obsidian orbs locked into Shikamaru's.

"Trouble sleeping?" Shikamaru asked casually. Anyone who wasn't as lazy as he was would have turned such a statement into a sneer.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in question.

"You were calling out to someone in your sleep." Shikamaru stated, his tone suddenly turning serious, "Telling them to hang on, you were coming home."

Shikamaru and Sasuke stared at each other. Sasuke was suddenly hypersensitive to the sounds around them the rustling of leaves. The light snores of Naruto. The chirping of crickets sensing a setting sun. Most of all he clearly heard what Shikamaru said when he broke the loud silence between them.

"Why her?" he asked, almost angry (Sasuke mused at how Hinata seemed to get everyone on her side, no matter the circumstance.), "Is it just because of Naruto and Sakura? Is she just your toy?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, anger seeping into his glare. Yet he controlled the urge to run Shikamaru through, because this would solve nothing, and it would wake Naruto, one person who he really didn't want in this conversation.

In the beginning, Sasuke would have said yes, he had needed a distraction from Naruto and Sakura, along with revenge against Sakura for marrying his best friend while still loving him (supposedly). But could he truthfully say that now? She woke him up, she gave him smiles, she slept at his side, she made him breakfast. No, Hinata had to be more than a toy, now. So what was she then? And over-glorified toy? Or perhaps… Sasuke was beginning to develop feelings for Hinata. Feelings that were slowly mending the damages Itachi and Orochimaru had inflicted upon him. Like a breath of fresh air among poison. No, Hinata was definitely something more than a toy.

"No." Sasuke said shortly.

Shikamaru gave him a strange look. "I see…" Shikamaru said.

Shikamaru picked up a pebble, and whirled it at Naruto's face, hitting the end of his nose. Naruto sat up, yelling something incoherent and loud, with a few swearwords in-between.

"Time to go." Shikamaru said, standing up, just as the sun disappeared below the horizon.

Sasuke stood up with a grunt, examining his many wounds. His polished orbs found their way to Naruto's now unharmed body, from Kyuubi's chakra.

"Goddamn fox…" he mumbled to him.

Naruto glared in return. Obviously Naruto wasn't bouncing back to forgive Sasuke for the time he punched Sakura. Usually Naruto didn't hold grudges this long, save for with Orochimaru and the Akatsuki.

They had a staring contest of sorts, before Shikamaru glared at each of them, and they both broke eye contact. It was business time now.

"Move out."

With Shikamaru's guttural order, the three disappeared into the trees.

* * *

This was it. 

Shikamaru was grapping over the control of his shadow jutsu to hold four impressively large and aggressive lackey's still. He was on his knees, blood oozing from a deep gash on his leg.

Naruto and his clones were grappling with twenty minor subordinates, and they were poofing one by one, the enemies moving forward, only to be stopped by another clone on the side lines. The clones were badly injured. Four of Naruto's fingers were broken at odd angles, three knuckles split, and many long shallow cuts all over his back from three sword wielding men and one double-tipped wielding woman.

The only sound in the deep underground cavern on the outskirts of Village Hidden in the Mist was the pants of the exhausted men and the grunts as they were killed or freed, and underneath it all the dripping of old stagnant water off the fragile stalactites threatening above them.

Life or Death.

Sasuke's katana tip scraped gently on the floor each time he panted. His left arm already had a shruiken wound in it. So far his right was exhausted but otherwise in good condition. He was cut by multiple sharp pointy objects, his clothes soaked with his sweat and blood, wounds that were previous scabbed over cracked and bleeding. He was bleeding from the mouth from a punch to the stomach, and he had too little chakra to do anything.

Fortunately, his opponent was in virtually the same condition.

Omoi Dokusha, the A-class criminal they were to kill stood in front of him, his short brown hair flat on his head, his smashed nose leaking blood. He, too, was almost out of Chakra.

Sasuke even had to turn off his Sharingan, because if it leeched off anymore, his dormant curse seal would explode into action, and Sasuke had been prohibited to use it. Sasuke didn't fancy jail.

The other mans sword also touched the ground lightly. They were down to sword fighting. No tricks, no chakra, no fancy jutsu's, just battle.

Although, Sasuke guessed that Dokusha didn't keep his sword as sharp as Sasuke kept his katana. Even without the lightning to make his blade able to chop anything, the sword was still razor sharp.

Sasuke's keen ears heard a grunt.

In a flash, both the swordsmen were moving, sprinting towards each other.

As they passed, their blades flashed into place.

Sasuke began to feel the familiar pull of flesh and bones on his blade, while he felt another blade cut deeply into his own skin.

Sasuke stumbled forward, and fell upon his knees, clutching his injured right arm, his hand reflexively dropping his sword. Sasuke grimaced.

"SASUKEEE!!!!!!!!!" a shout echoed through the cave. Seeing his friend fall to his knees, Naruto feared the worst, and forgot their earlier disagreement, but felt helpless as he had to control the men his clones had trapped.

Sasuke's head whipped around to the shout, drops of blood sprayed over his cheek and face.

He watched as the enemy stood for a prolonged moment, before he slowly flopped onto his side. Sasuke watched as his blood began to make a large pool around him.

Sasuke's blade had began the cut at the joint where the mans neck met his shoulder, and had continued down at a diagonal angle. The result was a gruesome instant kill, but not without sacrifice.

When Sasuke lifted his blade to cut into the man, his arm had to move cross ways his body. Dokusha's sword had been aimed to cut where Sasuke's arm now was.

Sasuke slowly looked at his hand, watching blood well from between his fingers. Opening his hand, Sasuke saw the cut, just to the let of the elbow joint. Sasuke blinked at how white his bone was, before a wave of blood blocked his view of the bone.

"W…Where am I?" came the voice of one man Naruto's clone was holding.

Similar questions were echoed throughout the room. Shikamaru let his shadow go, and sat back on his butt with a relieved sigh.

"Omoi Dokusha. A-class missing-nin and criminal, wheeling and stealing drugs for some time. Abilities include Mind control jutsu and Mind wiping and the like. You were all probably influenced." Shikamaru said.

Sasuke thought that was pretty convenient.

Naruto's clones poofed out pretty fast, and Naruto fell back on his ass with an 'oof'.

Many mutterings and shouts filled the room.

"What?"

"He played us like fools!!"

"That son of a…!"

One man, who seemed to be the temporary leader of the group, approached them. "To thank, perhaps you'd let us bandage your wounds? We've no medics among us, but the least we could do is see you fit enough for the travel home." Shikamaru nodded with a smile.

Sasuke watched as his cuts and gashes were cleaned before being bandaged. They wound a length of clean wrap around his arm gash tightly, making Sasuke sharply intake air.

Naruto waved them off instantly, as Kyuubi's chakra was already doing its work. Naruto sighed as it dubiously cleared his pain away.

Shikamaru grimaced as his wounds were addressed, just like Sasuke.

When they were done, the men guided them from the cavern, and the three set out home.

* * *

**A/N: Lol whut? No cliffhanger? You must be dreaming.**

**So, yeah, prepare for the climax of this story in chapter eight. Hay, I just noticed that this might only be a ten chappie fic! Whoa! Then again, there might be a sequel.**

**There's too many of you all to count, but just know that you have my love!**


	8. With a Boom

**A/N: Hay guys, cut the very end of this chappie off cause I didn't like it, and it would have been a later update if I had. This, instead, might go to eleven chapters. **

**I promise I'll try to update more and not leave you hanging like this again. **

**I do not plan on proceeding upon any more fics until this one is done, so Then and now is now on Hiatus, for a 'lil bit. After t hat, Ill be finishing all Fics befoe I post them, and giving weekly, timed updates. Should be more organized and steady. Of course I'll post one shots while you wait for me to complete a fic. Then and now will have updates though. When that is done, I plan on restarting Figures A and B.**

**Your thoughts on this plan?**

* * *

With a boom, the rain came down in one mighty heave. It beat down on the three weary ninja who stepped into Konoha, giving Kotetsu and Izumo a look. They wrote down their names. 

Glossy and sullen obsidian eyes slowly tilted upwards. His head followed, and his hair was slicked back by the piercing rain, and the runnels of water streamed down the contours of his face.

Sasuke's eyelids slowly slid shut.

The three were Physically, Mentally, and emotionally exhausted. They were beaten and bruised, and their Chakra was just enough to stay alive.

The sun was probably above the horizon, but the roiling purple-black clouds would spare them no mercy, and kept the city of Konoha in assort of sickly dark grey light. It was barely enough to see into the darkened corners on the street. It seemed as though even the weather knew it was going to be a bad day.

Shikamaru sighed as he looked them over. The Hokage (well… more like Shizune) was going to kill him for this, but…

"Okay, take thirty minutes to tell those who care that your alive and going to be well, and then meet me at the hospital to get checked over." Shikamaru said, watching as his two companions put on a face of intense relief.

Thankfully Naruto didn't catch Sasuke's.

They all nodded, and dispersed.

Sasuke sped home, just normal sprinting, with no chakra. He was excited to see Hinata. Three days away from her has been killer.

Sasuke suddenly stopped dead when he reached the Uchiha gate. His face fell. It was ten minutes past dawn, and he had just realized that Hinata wouldn't be waiting for him. She'd be sleeping for another hour or so, at her house, in her bedroom.

He sighed, and his exhaustion began to take over yet again, his feet dragging as he passed the empty buildings to his home.

Sasuke's head clunked against his door as he fumbled in his pocket for his keys, forgetting that he hadn't even locked the door when he left.

He felt… empty.

The door jolted forwards, and had Sasuke not been a ninja, he probably would have fallen inwards, but Instead he stood straight up, a surprised look on his face.

There she stood, her hand still on the door, and her eyes large and puffy from crying, tears still in her eyes. A new tear slid down her cheek at his haggard appearance.

After a moment, Hinata rushed forward, her arms slipping about his waist, hugging him tightly.

Automatically, Sasuke's own arms raised and closed around her shoulders, his nose lowering into her hair, inhaling her scent.

As her arms squeezed around his waist, his arms squeezed in return, causing blood to soak the bandage wrapping his right arm where he had been cut to his bone.

Hinata spotted it from the corner of her eye, and she nearly went back into sobs.

"You're hurt…" she said, her voice muffled by Sasuke's clothing.

Sasuke nodded slowly.

"I missed you…" he breathed into her ear, before he could stop himself.

Loosening their hug, Sasuke's hand trailed up to her chin, raising her face so he could bend into a kiss.

Hinata turned her head away from his, breaking the magic.

Sasuke watched as tears slid down her pale face, her expression sad and sorrowful. Almost… guilty.

Her lush lips moved slowly, sound emitting quiet just enough for his ears.

"Sasuke… I am so sorry…"

Sasuke's eyes widened. His dream had played out just like this, and he had never got to the end, never got to see why… Her voice near tore his heart in two, as his hand slowly reached up to touch her cheek, comfort, and help her.

"I'm pregnant…" Hinata choked out.

Sasuke's hand stopped, and slowly fell to his side.

Sasuke was shocked. He stood there, his mouth slightly, his polished obsidian pools open wide.

What the _fuck_ was he going to do now?

On his things-to-do list, repopulating his clan was second. It was second to avenging his clan, which was in his respective first place, because repopulating his clan required him to fall in love, and killing Itachi required true hate.

They didn't mix well.

Also, were he to repopulate the clan first, Itachi would have more targets. Why had he done this? Why had he gone after Hinata? Why? Why? Why???

His judgment had certainly failed on him.

"Leave…" He said softly, sudden and swift.

"Sasuke…" Hinata whispered, her creamy eyes searching his wide and un-seeing black ones.

Sasuke's hands left Hinata's shoulder, and whisked through his hair as he stepped backwards and away from Hinata.

"Just leave!" he said softly, begging her, "Please… I need to think… I can't... I….. Just leave."

As the rain soaked them, Sasuke had trouble speaking as he watched tears stream down her cheeks, the salty substance blending in the rain.

Sasuke watched as she turned around, and ran, the curtain of rain covering her tracks.

_What have I done…? _

Sasuke dragged himself into his house, even more exhausted than when he had entered Konoha.

Sasuke entered his bedroom, and collapsed onto his bed. Sasuke inhaled, and he realized that she had slept there, waiting for him.

Sasuke estimated that he had ten minutes until he had to go to the hospital and meet Shikamaru and Naruto.

Sasuke curled into a ball as the first tear slid down his face.

Ten minutes to cry… and think.

* * *

When the door shut behind him with a click, Naruto turned around, and vigorously shook his head, water from the rain flying off his weighted locks and they immediately spiked yet again.

Naruto's big grin never changed as he opened his mouth to jovially call out to his wife, Sakura.

His mouth and teeth clicked shut moments before he would utter a sound when he realized that it was ten minutes after dawn, and Sakura would be sleeping.

Naruto pouted for a fraction of a second, before he began to tip-toe forward to see his wife.

Of course, being Naruto, he tripped on the welcome mat, and fell smack into the wooden table, where the telephone, vase and flowers, and two pictures sat.

The loud clattering noise and the shatter of broken pottery resounded throughout the apartment.

In the dark room, there was a moment of supreme silence, before the light flicked on, and Sakura stood on the doorway to the bedroom, her arms crossed over a thin silk bath robe, over her shorts and old t shirt that served as pajamas. Her eyes were squinted, and her hair was mussed up.

Sakura took a good long look at him, and sighed. Naruto grinned, just happy to see her.

Naruto was on the floor, propped on his elbows, the remains of a shattered vase surrounding him, and flowers he himself had picked for her spread out on the floor and on his head. The table was on its side, water dripping from it, the phone nearby. The picture of Naruto grinning at the camera, his arms wrapped around Sakura's waist, and Sakura's arms wrapped around his neck, her leaning against his chest, one foot up in the air comically looked to be in good shape. The picture that had been beside it, the picture of them as children, in Team Seven was not. The glass covering it had shattered, and the water from the vase had splashed across the three's faces, only Kakashi's spared. The picture was ruined.

Sakura's shoulders fell.

"And here I thought my husband would tip-toe in, give me a kiss, whisper in my ear that he was okay, before slipping into bed with me." She said sarcastically, "Some Ninja you are."

Naruto's eyes grew large and puppy-like. "Awww…. Sakura… I only have thirty minutes until I have to meet Sasuke and Shikamaru at the hospital…" he whined.

Sakura smiled at him, unable to resist.

Sakura really loved him. He made her feel so happy, and his exuberance brightened even her darkest days. Sakura walked over to him, and helped him up, brushing off the dirt.

After a moment of much needed silence and stillness, Sakura moved forward, her arms sliding around Naruto's waist, her cheek pressed against his shoulder. Sakura squeezed against him.

Oh how she missed him.

It was so dark when he was gone. She shuddered as she remembered the period of time when Naruto had gone Training with Jiraiya. Days had passed in blur of minutes hours and weeks. Nothing was shining, everything was dark, and Sakura had the sickly feeling that she was completely alone. Kakashi was constantly away on missions or simply unmotivated to spend time with what he had written off as his least-talented or normal student. Sasuke was… missing. And the only solid thing she had left in her life was gone. Just gone. Her friend had left a boy and returned a boy. He was still the same, simply stronger and a bit more knowledgeable. Despite that, he was still that little boy on the inside, and Sakura figured out that he would never change… and… perhaps she liked it that way.

Sakura sighed against his chest.

She lifted her chin to look up at him, her teal-green eyes meeting his sparkling sky blue ones. "Are you hurt? How'd it go? Are the other two okay?" She asked, peppering him with questions.

A rumbling in his strong chest hummed against her own, and he chuckled down at her, a grin cracking his face.

"No, Okay, Bad." He said, answering all her questions at once.

Sakura was thoughtful for a moment, trying to match her questions to his answers. When she did, her brow furrowed (especially since the answer to the last question made no sense at all), and she opened her mouth to respond.

"What do you mean okay? They're bad? Should I go to the hospital? What? Damn Kyuubi, How the hell am I gonna be a good wife and heal you when that thing is always-"

Sakura was cut off with a squeak as his lips met hers with a pleasant surprise. Naruto's eyelids fluttered shut, and after her surprise faded, she kissed him back, her own lids following his.

Unlike many of their other kisses, this one wasn't rushed or passionate or rough. Tender and smooth, Sakura was thankful for it. It was simply a refreshing breath of relief that he was home and safe.

A tentative knock at the door made Naruto spring away from Sakura, delving into his Weapon's pouch for a Kunai.

Sakura eyed him with an odd look. Usually, after a hard mission, Ninja could get very jumpy. Naruto would tell her about it later.

Sakura moved forward and peered though the peep-hole. Her eyes widened, and Sakura threw open the door.

"Hinata!" Sakura cried, her voice filled with worry.

The shorter and smaller girl was shaking from head to toe, and perhaps not just because she was soaked from the rain. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her hair was soaked. Water ran down her face from the pouring rain. Although it was raining and her whole face was wet, Sakura could tell she had been crying by her red-rimmed puffy eyes.

With a strangled sob, Hinata managed to choke something out that Naruto couldn't hear.

"Of course you can stay here!" Naruto heard, guessing that Hinata asked if she could stay there.

Naruto watched worriedly as Sakura rushed Hinata inside, and wrapped her in many clean, fluffy, pink and orange towels. Hinata continued to shake and shiver, despite being warm and dry.

Naruto looked at her, and memories came pouring back of how he had refused her, and how she had declined to do more than simply sit in the pews of his wedding to Sakura. Somehow, beyond his curious little nose, Hinata and Sakura had been associating.

"Hinata…?" he asked softly, stepping forward, craning his neck so he could see his friends face.

Hinata's eyes raised, and she met his eyes for a moment before quickly looking away with a sniffle. She felt so… guilty… just looking at him. He was the reason she had sought out Sasuke for comfort. And from there, she had royally fucked it up.

Naruto's face fell; he was very worried for Hinata.

Naruto headed into the kitchen, and watched as Sakura made up some coffee for Hinata.

Naruto's eyes followed her movements. "Sakura what's-"

"Its nothing, Naruto. You're going to be late." Sakura said, cutting him off.

Naruto's one track mind was immediately distracted, and he turned and rushed out t he door, nothing but a rushed, 'Bye!' to the two women in his house.

But even as he rushed to the hospital, Naruto's thoughts floated back to the crying Hinata, and his heart went out to the shy girl whom he considered a dear friend, and his anger to whom ever had made her this way.

* * *

Click. Click. Click. 

Shikamaru's fingers drummed against the metal table he sat upon in the clean and sterile hospital room.

The other two were _late. _

Shikamaru's face was that of an annoyed look. I mean even he had managed to show up on time, even with the sleepy blond devil being so demanding.

Shikamaru gulped and loosened his collar, remembering the way Ino and clung to Shikamaru and kissed him. It had taken most of Shikamaru's will power, and probably the rest of his chakra, to leave her as she sleepily protested that he had to go.

Shikamaru's train of thought was ended with a noise at the door.

There, leaning heavily against the door frame, panting, was Sasuke. Their gazes met for a moment, before Sasuke dragged himself into the room, his sandals dragging and scuffing against the ground.

Shikamaru blinked at him. He almost looked like he had been… crying? No, it must be his imagination.

But when Sasuke met his eyes, and gave him a hopeless look, like a lost puppy, the previous thought seemed a bit more probable. Sasuke broke the gaze.

When the door clashed against the wall, Shikamaru jumped, and turned to watched Naruto nearly fall on his face.

Sasuke glowered at him tiredly, as if the effort of keeping his usual glare on Naruto was too much to handle.

Naruto stood up, and looked at the two with a guilty expression on his face.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He cried frantically, searching for an annoyed Shizune, or fuming Tsunade, but found neither, and thus continued on, "But Hinata showed up at my house… and she was crying and stuff… and I don't know what's wrong with her!"

Slowly, Shikamaru's eyes widened after each word, and his head snapped in Sasuke's direction, only to find him staring at the ground, his eyes unreadable.

The final Uchiha's thoughts were mixed at this finding. He was frantically trying to figure out why Hinata would go to Naruto… even though he was her crush, although it was her who ended up being crushed on that aspect- Sasuke's eyes suddenly widened. Hinata wasn't going to Naruto… she was going to Sakura. Without the knowledge that Sakura was still emotionally attached to Sasuke, He reasoned that Sakura was probably the most dependant of the three kunoichi her age Hinata could trust.

Despite her marriage to Naruto, Sakura had attempted to repair their relationship by asking Hinata to be a bride's mate. She was able to keep destructive gossip a secret. She was familiar with things of this sort. Most of all, she was the best medic in Konoha, her skill now exceeding even Tsunade.

Sasuke realized that Hinata had made a very good decision… if it weren't for the fact Sakura was going to be the doctor of Sasuke's love-child.

His plans suddenly got much more complicated.

As if like magic, tension began to gather in the air. It was like being in a room with an elephant who was constantly trying to pick your nose for you.

In short, it was horribly uncomfortable.

Naruto looked between Shikamaru and Sasuke, a puzzled look on his whiskered face. His mouth opened, and he was about not say something.

The door creaked open, and a very tired and annoyed looking Shizune stood there, glowering at the three.

She looked each of them over, and visually assessing their wounds. One look at Sasuke's arm, and her frown deepened.

"You're up first, Uchiha." She said blandly.

Sasuke heaved himself upward, and onto the table.

Shizune slowly unwrapped his bandage on his arm, and hissed when the glossy white bone showed in the cut. _At least it's a clean cut…_ She thought to herself.

Sasuke turned to her and gave her the 'You should see the other guy' look.

Shizune glared at him, and began to heal his arm, and Sasuke felt the thrum of pain wash away in his arm, replaced by the pulsating feeling of relief and healing, as his tissues and cells knitted themselves together.

His terrible headache faded away next when Shizune's God-sent hand full of chakra descended upon the wound to his head.

After an hour, Sasuke was given some band aids and shoved into the chair next to Naruto, told to put them on his minor cuts. Sasuke did so, and crossed his legs beneath him, his hands resting in his lap, and his back rigid. Sasuke sank into a deep meditation to calm himself down and regain his much needed chakra.

With a sneaky glance at Naruto after he had heard some poofs, he was surprised to see Naruto doing the same as he was… save with five clones.

Sasuke sighed to himself. What was the point of wasting your last bit of chakra to regain your own? Curiously, all of the clones and Naruto had red eyes. Kyuubi's eyes.

_I see…_ Sasuke thought. When Naruto forced himself to use the last bit of his chakra, his body simply switched to Kyuubi's. Sasuke blinked, remembering when he himself had beaten Naruto into unconsciousness, and Sasuke had looking down at him, his fully developed Sharingan slowly rotating. He had watched as the bubbling red visible chakra had forced Naruto into a standing position, before hitting Sasuke with superhuman speed.

Sasuke shuddered at the memory of the Valley of the End. To this day, Sasuke would never understand the mixed feelings of anger, sadness, and guilt, staring down at his presumably dead best friend, the ray of light disappearing on his face.

Okay, Maybe Sasuke DID need his friends.

For another forty-five minutes, Sasuke concentrated upon regaining chakra.

At around eight o clock, Shizune stopped and released the three from the room. "Report to Tsunade." She snapped at them, before ambling off to the staff lounge, sweat on her brow noticeable.

The three began to amble towards the Hokage tower. Naruto led with a confident march, his twinkling ice blue eyes gazing at the tower. Sasuke was next, his feet dragging, slowing very carefully. Shikamaru was last, his hands deep in his pockets, not even noticing as Sasuke sank in beside him.

Suddenly, Sasuke spun, and roughly grabbed at Shikamaru's shirt, spinning the two into a dark alley. Sasuke slammed him against the wall; Sasuke's face only inches away from Shikamaru's.

Shikamaru's stunned eyes gazed straight into the slowly rotating tomoe of Sasuke's Sharingan. Shikamaru was stunned and he opened his mouth to yell.

"Listen!" Came Sasuke's urgent whisper.

The tone and desperation of Sasuke's voice made Shikamaru's jaw click shut.

"I have something to do, and it involves Hinata. Cover for me..." Sasuke said this hurriedly, and then with a final decision, he added, "…please."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at him, and was still for a moment, before finally nodding.

Sasuke let go, and disappeared, using his now half replenished chakra to leap upon t he roof of the building.

Shikamaru's head clunked against the brickwork behind him, simply breathing from the odd encounter. His calming breathes were disturbed, though, when Naruto poked his spiky head around the corner.

"Hey what are you guys-" he started, before he blinked, noticing Sasuke was nowhere in sight, "Where's Sasuke?"

Shikamaru gave him a slightly annoyed look. "Sasuke had to go. We're covering for him." He said in his usual tone, stepping around the now pouting Naruto and back I not the street.

He smiled as Naruto began his usual bitching about Sasuke being a bastard, leaving them to deal with the hag on their own, and the like.

* * *

"…So that's it." Sasuke said finally. 

He set his cup of tea down onto the expensively finished wood table, deliberately avoiding the china saucer with that perfect circle in it, meant to perfectly fit his cup.

When he first glimpsed the dim room he had been shown to, the first thought was how much could he get away with ruining or damaging or marking the many expensive items. Hyuuga Hiashi liked his meeting room dim and traditional. The room was cold, despite the candles lining the walls as the only light source. In the center was a table that seated two people at a time, low to the ground, with pillows as chairs, the tea set carefully arranged in the center.

The whole Hyuuga mansion was nothing but a maze of frosty perfection.

Much like the home, Hiashi also regarded him with a cold eye.

"You want to marry my daughter?" he asked coolly, but Sasuke knew better. A master of cool expressions and façade's, Sasuke knew that Hiashi was still in shock that Sasuke had showed up at his doorstep and asked- no, demanded to marry Hinata, his weak and disappointing heir.

Sasuke looked him in the eyes and glowered at Hiashi. "Did I stutter?"

Hiashi's right eyebrow twitched at his open impudence.

Sasuke nearly smiled. Hiashi's delayed response was a sign that he was seriously considering the deal Sasuke had projected. Sasuke had headed straight home after cracking a deal with Shikamaru. He had taken a hot and refreshing shower, and gotten clean up. He had even trimmed his bangs a bit, as they had been getting a bit long. Upon showing up at the Hyuuga's he had been denied entry or a meeting with Hiashi until Sasuke had forced himself past the servant, insisting that if Hiashi didn't have time to see him he'd better make time. As usual, what Sasuke wanted, he got. Now, here he was in Hiashi's receiving room, drinking his tea, which he had carefully tested for poison.

Hiashi's voice brought him back to the present.

"Why should I let you marry my daughter?" he asked suddenly, his pale eyes narrowed, chips of ice compared to the full and compassionate ones Hinata owned, despite the similar color, "You've got money, but so do half the other men I could marry her off to. You're a traitor to the village. You're rude and dishonest. You're only living family member is an S-class criminal whose picture is in Bingo Books all around the world. Your manners are terrible at best, and your clan has been at odds with mine for years. What makes you so special over the other men I could marry her off to?"

Sasuke's eye twitched as Hiashi talked about him like that, and his own daughter like an object to be handed off to the highest bidder. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this.

Sasuke rudely propped his elbow on the table and leaned forward toward Hiashi.

"Because… your daughter is pregnant with my child."

Sasuke smirked as he got the satisfaction of watching a look of complete shock crawl across Hiashi's hardened features.

* * *

_Thwunk. Chick. Thwunk. Chick. _

Hinata hummed quietly to herself as she moved around the table, setting each dish with careful an practiced precision. Hinata found peace and serenity in this simple practice, valuing the things she would be able to do for now, even while her before emotions roiled from within. Hinata pushed these thoughts away grimly, focusing on her task at hand.

Hinata had spent the entire day at Sakura's and Naruto's place, calming down, thinking clear and avoiding any mention of-

Yeah.

It was odd to her that she was hiding from him at his own teammates living place. She was modestly dressed in Sakura's sweats, her own more modest clothes drying in the bathroom.

The same hummed tune that Hinata was humming floated in, growing louder as Sakura entered the room, and then exited into the bedroom.

Hinata only looked up when Sakura came back, no longer humming, but now dragging a loudly protesting Naruto out of the bedroom by his ear. Hinata smiled at the sight, having learned to notice the odd abusive love the two shared, Sakura aggressive, Naruto submissive.

Naruto's jacket was unzipped, and he was holding his pants up. It looked as though she had dragged him out while he was still dressing in his normal clothes, rather than his dirty ones he had come in with.

Sakura was having a small get together for a friendly dinner and snacks, an perhaps a game of monopoly. Or maybe not, since it was Ino and Shikamaru that were coming over. Despite their most recently hard mission, Hinata was sure that Ino would drag him over on his ass if necessary. Ino was not about to miss this chance at gossip, and it would be rude for just her to come alone.

"Naruto you are so lazy!" Sakura scolded, "You're picking up Shikamaru's habits! You haven't helped one bit!"

Naruto writhed in her iron grip, trying not to hurt his ear any more, "Ah! Ah! Sakura! Sakura! That's not true! No no no no, you see I was-"

"I don't want to here it!" she interrupted, shoving a piece of paper to him, releasing his ear, "Now go get these groceries."

Naruto rubbed his ear, facing her, "Awwwww Saaakuuuraaa… it's all the way across town… and I'm tiiireeddd…"

Sakura's fist met lightly with Naruto's head.

'Lightly' meaning Naruto fell to the floor with a groan.

Sakura looked down at him with one raised eyebrow. "Get going." She ordered gruffly.

Naruto popped up and grumbled something, sulking out the door. Sakura smiled fondly out the window as he put on his usual happy strut outside.

"He's such a goof." Sakura said as she moved into the kitchen to stir a pot.

Hinata nodded as she followed, her gentle hands beginning on some dishes. "Quite a handful…" she commented softly before finishing in her head, _One that I wouldn't be able to keep… _

Sakura sighed. "I'm used to it by now." She said, putting on a smile, referring to Team Seven.

Hinata nodded knowingly. Sakura had been there. She been there from the beginning, and had watched the destruction of her Team, and had been there when it was put back together. Hinata would never know of this. Her team was nearly the same, Shino as that mysteriously quiet guy, Kiba as the loud competitive kid, and Hinata as the weaker girl caught in it all. Except… Shino's clan wasn't murdered, Kiba didn't have a demon sealed in him, and Hinata came from a noble family. Each member of Team Eight had had their own individual problems, but t hey could always count on each other for their support, in their own tight-knit circle.

Team Eight had never disintegrated from its core, like Team Seven had. The sick part was that when it had, Sakura had been so insignificant; all she could do was _watch. _

Hinata gave Sakura a reassuring smile as these thoughts ran through her head. Sakura smiled back, unknowing that she had Hinata's sympathy.

They spent the next half hour in comfortable silence, Hinata quietly washing as Sakura dried and put them away, every once in awhile stirring the pot of soup she had put on for dinner.

When a knock at the door came, Sakura was putting away the last now-clean measuring cup and Hinata was watching the sink drain. Sakura immediately threw her towel to the side, and went to answer the door.

Hinata glanced at the clock on the microwave, observing that Ino and Shikamaru were at least fifteen minutes early. Hinata smiled as she figured out who wore the pants in that relationship.

Ino uttered an excited squeal at the site of her friend, throwing her arms around Sakura in a big hug, before letting go and swishing past her, immediately spotting Hinata and heading in bee-line towards her, a smile on her face.

"Hinata!" she said with a beaming smile, "Pleasant surprise! You can gossip with me and Sakura while Shikamaru and Naruto wait on us hand and foot."

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at what the beautiful blond said, "Ah, Ino, good to see you."

Shikamaru huffed as he lazily dragged his feet into the kitchen. "Where's Naruto..?" he asked boredly.

Sakura cast a look at him over her shoulder as she began to head into the living room. "Oh I sent him out for groceries about a half hour or so ago… He is probably hung up on what kind of cup ramen to buy."

Ino laughed at that shortly, but Hinata supposed Sakura wasn't joking.

The four headed into the living room, and as they began to sit down, Ino asked Hinata, "So you're here because…?"

That nose-picking elephant came back into the room, and Sakura gave Ino a look. The Queen of Gossip immediately got it.

She turned to Shikamaru, and put on a charming smile. "Shika, Hun, could you go stir Sakura's horrid cooking for her? We girls have a little something to talk about."

Sakura pointed at Ino, and then flipped her off.

Shikamaru just sighed and heaved upright, dragging himself into the kitchen. He began to slowly stir the soup in the pot. With a glance at the three in the living room, Shikamaru snuck a sip of the soup and nearly choked.

In the living room, the girls sat down at t he couches, Ino across from Sakura and Hinata. Ino leaned forward eagerly. "So really, why're you here??"

Hinata suddenly looked very uncomfortable, and began to fidget, silent, her creamy eyes focusing on the ground.

Sakura's hand gently laid upon her shoulder. "Hinata, we can trust her, she won't tell if we ask her not to." She searched Hinata's eyes for her consent, and after a minute, Hinata finally nodded shortly, "She's here because she's my patient; Hinata is pregnant."

Ino's eyes widened, the deep azure blue twinkling in the light, and she nearly fell over with shock.

Of the four kunoichi in their age group, Ino would have picked Sakura to bet he first to get pregnant. She was married (to Naruto ahem..), and she LOVED kids. Hinata would be second the moment she got married of to some rich guy in need of thirty children (Ino did not envy that fate), Ino would be the third, probably with Shikamaru, maybe when she was thirty, and finally would be Tenten, whom the whole village knew was secretly harboring SOMETHING for Neji (and Neji something for her) since everyone was twelve, who possibly may never have kids at all.

So no, Hinata was not supposed to be pregnant first. She wasn't married, and therefore, with her father just begging for someone to take the sweet innocent girl off his hands, should probably be a virgin.

So the first time in a long time, Ino was completely speechless. Ino's mouth opened, before closing, the opening once more, uttering a small noise. Finally Ino leaned back with a sigh, and said, "Wow."

Hinata blinked, and Sakura's eyebrows rose.

"That's it?" Sakura asked skeptically, "That's all you can say?"

Ino's brows furrowed and her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "Well what am I supposed to-"

Ino stopped mid sentence when Shikamaru's voice called from the kitchen, "Ino? Can you come here?"

Ino's delicate finger rose to Sakura and Hinata. "Hold that thought." She said, getting up and sashaying into the kitchen.

Ino leaned up against the counter next to the stove where Shikamaru was standing. "What's up, babes?" she asked in her normal tone, as if she just hadn't had the juiciest piece of gossip she had heard that month handed to her on a golden platter. Shikamaru nearly cringed at her nickname 'babes'. He knew very well it was just to tease him.

He looked at her very seriously. "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" he hissed quietly to her, leaning over.

Ino's eyes widened. "You heard that?!" she hissed back, although not very surprised. He must have been actually listening.

There was a moment of silence before Shikamaru suddenly said, "What if I told you I knew who the father was?"

Ino was suddenly highly alert, and she leaned in closer. Were someone to come around the corner, it would look like an intimate moment between two lovers, talking in hushed voices. "What??" Ino hissed, "How do you know? And who is it?"

Shikamaru shook his head shortly. "It's Sasuke…" Ino's mouth dropped in shock, "…and I'll tell you how I know later…"

Finally, Ino shook her head in disbelief. "Nooo…." She whispered, "cant be.."

One look at Shikamaru's grave face erased her doubts.

Her mouth fell open once more. "Oh my god you're serious!" she said loudly.

Shikamaru's lips closed over hers quickly so she wouldn't continue. When he released them, Ino breathed in slowly.

"Ino…" Shikamaru nearly growled, "…what will happen if Sakura finds out?"

Ino shook her head. "She won't admit it, but I don't think she's over Sasuke. If she reacts on instinct it could get nasty."

Truthfully, Sakura had refused to disclose any of her emotions to Ino about either Sasuke or Naruto ever since she began to date Naruto. It had been such a surprise to Ino because the last thing Ino had heard from Sakura and the two was a bout Sasuke. She had been distressed, because he was falling into a pit and because he wouldn't accept either Naruto's or her help, she feared he would eventually kill himself. She had said that she would be devastated if the guy she loved died.

That was awhile ago, though, and Ino had seen the way Sakura was about Naruto, and had been convinced that she loved him. Naruto was truly magically gifted at getting everything he wanted. The magical part is that he makes everyone else around him want it too.

Shikamaru's disappointed click brought Ino back into the present. "Stir the pot, and make sure that Hinata doesn't say who the father is." Shikamaru said curtly.

Ino took the spoon and began to stir with a relieved sigh. She didn't know what Shikamaru had planned, but she was sure it would succeed…if she kept her end under control.

Behind her, Shikamaru raced out the door, the flat wood slamming behind him. As the time reached four o'clock, the sky had not changed, and Shikamaru immediately felt the rain pelt his face as he charged towards Hokage tower. It was time to decide whether or not this was serious enough or not to involve Tsunade. Had it been anyone else but the emotion driven Sakura, the easily-angered Naruto, and the unstable Uchiha Survivor, he probably wouldn't have stuck his nose in their business. But with their kind of power sitting at their fingertips… He just had to snitch.

Sakura blinked as the door slammed, and got up, looking into the kitchen. "Ino? Where's Shikamaru?" she asked curiously.

Ino turned easily in her direction, a nice smile on her face. "He just remembered that Tsunade wanted to go over the last mission with him." Ino said, lying gracefully.

Sakura pouted slightly but nodded anyway. "Ino you can leave it for now, come back in here."

Ino nodded and entered the room, sitting down on the couch.

Sakura sat down too, nodding seriously.

"Okay, Hinata, now that he's gone, you can tell us if you want." Sakura said comfortingly to Hinata.

Normally, Ino would have been _dying_ to know who it was. But that appetite was sated when Shikamaru told her. Now she had a job to do.

"h-huh..?" Hinata said, her eyes uncertainly flicking back and forth between Ino and Sakura. She opened her mouth to say something-

"Drinks!" Ino nearly shouted, springing to her feet. Hinata and Sakura gave her funny looks, and Ino's face grew hot.

"Er… I mean I'll get us some soda. I'm parched. Heh…" Ino said before rushing around the corner to a fridge in the laundry closet. She leaned against the fridge, thoroughly embarrassed. This was hard.

The moment Ino left the room, Sakura turned back to Hinata.

"If you don't want Ino to know, here's your chance." Sakura said to Hinata softly, "Hun, if I know I may be able to help."

Sakura was being completely sincere. If she knew, she might be able to help quite a lot. She might be able to help him claim responsibility for the child. Sakura was apprentice of the Hokage, and she wielded plenty of power.

Hinata raised her eyes from the carpet to search Sakura's own turquoise eyes. Hinata was thinking. If Sakura knew about Sasuke, she might be able to help. She knew Sasuke very well, and knew what he was like. She, with Hinata's current knowledge, was the perfect person to tell.

Hinata finally nodded.

"I- It's Sasuke…"

* * *

**A/N: Yeah as I said I didn't like the ending that I hadn't even written yet (too OOC), so I decided to give you this much instead. It wouldn't be much longer anyway. **

**A fitting Christmas gift, no? From me to you, guys. **

**Have a happy and safe Holiday!**


	9. Apples and Oranges

**A/N: Stop begging for chapters, it's annoying, I'll post them when I get the time to write them.**

**Also, I will finish this story; don't offer to finish it for me. I'm having some family problems, so quit demanding I write for you. You should feel privileged that I share this idea and story at all.**

**And for those of you who have been patient and understanding, unlike the others, thank you very much for being so polite and tolerant.**

**The reason this chapter took so long is because I wrote it halfway through and then I lost the whole thing, so I had to rewrite it.**

**Also, this is a direct middle finger those who have overused the 'Arranged marriage' plot for SasuHina more than a bazillion times.**

**Stop it, it's old, and it's ruining the pairing dynamics by forcing them together.**

**NOTE: Recent Manga developments are null here. The condition between Sasuke and Itachi are the same as they were in the beginning of the story. Sasuke is a failure in his goal to kill his brother.**

* * *

The rooftops were slick, but it didn't make a difference. With chakra centered in a careful balance on his feet, Sasuke wasn't fazed by the torrents of rain water gliding down the rooftops he ran over.

After going to the Hyuuga mansion, Sasuke had immediately began to run for Hinata. From what Naruto had said, she was at His and Sakura's apartment. The fact Sakura was so close to Hinata and his future child was unnerving. His friends had no sense of control over themselves, because their emotions ruled their talents. Naruto was most formidable when angry or sad. Sakura too also became stronger when her emotions ran strong.

They hadn't, and wouldn't learn that keeping their talents separate from their feelings was what was needed to be a successful shinobi. Emotions, for a shinobi, were annoying, but necessary. They were the only thing that kept you from becoming a monster. Sasuke had seen it first hand, when he had seen Itachi, cool and stoic as ever, standing over the dead bodies of his- no, THEIR parents. He had killed them, executioner style, seen the disappointment, anger, sadness and despair in their eyes, just before his sword flashed. And yet, Itachi had been unaffected.

The train of thought Sasuke was traveling down made him lose his focus upon where he was running, and the careful chakra balance in his foot. His foot, now overloaded with chakra, punched a few inches into the roof, and Sasuke tripped. He began to roll down the roof, his head and back becoming soaked as he curled into a ball. Both of his hands were shoved deep in his jacket, or else he would have stopped himself from falling. Sasuke was carrying precious cargo.

As he rolled off the roof, and began his descent towards the alleyway three stories below, Sasuke kicked out his legs, chakra flowing back into his feet and they held, sliding a few inches but steady. Sasuke stood upon the wall, horizontal to the ground, when he removed his hand from the inside depths of his jacket and wiped the damp hair from his cheek with a frustrated growl.

The Uchiha quickly peeked within his jacket to make sure that the roll of parchment in his jacket was safe. At the Hyuuga mansion, Sasuke had asked for permission to marry Hinata, because he knew if he simply asked her, her father would never allow it. Hinata was easily swayed with the stern words of her father, he could tell by the derogatory way he spoke of her.

After consenting, Hiashi drew up a marriage contract, which listed a large amount of rules stating along the lines of Hinata was no longer his problem and she was entitled to nothing of the Hyuuga estate, which also applied to Sasuke and the child to-be. Sasuke himself had checked it over to make sure nothing in the document entitled the Hyuuga estate to anything that the Uchiha's or Hinata and the Child earned and had in their possession. Afterwards, he signed it, and beside his curvy signature was a blank line.

Quite obviously, Sasuke or Hiashi couldn't force Hinata to marry anyone, as arranged marriages were illegal. So now, he was taking the document to Hinata, and he hoped she would sign it.

Sasuke jumped back up upon the rooftops, and began to quicken his pace towards Naruto's residence.

The dark haired man sighed as rain pelted his face. Sasuke figured that with his teammates involved, there would be no quick and peaceful signing. It seemed like thy managed to complicate even the simplest tasks.

* * *

"You're joking right?"

Shikamaru made a face. He (being a genius) had expected this type of answer to his explanation, but sometimes it was nice to be wrong.

Shikamaru was standing impatient in Tsunade's office, as she slowly sipped sake while he related the story to her, his hands on the edge of her desk, gripping it until his knuckles were white. Tsunade herself was sitting in a metal folding lawn chair behind her desk, listening with interest. Shizune had taken her nice comfortable chair and replaced it with the metal one so she couldn't fall asleep in it.

"I am not joking Hokage-sama, this is a serious situation." Shikamaru pressed, tapping his foot, "Three of the most overpowered shinobi's are about to converge at Naruto's apartment and have themselves a nice emotional showdown around the fact that Sasuke and Hinata have been screwing around and now she's pregnant and Sakura might get all pissed and maybe even Naruto, and then Hinata will cry or something and Sasuke will bring the wrath of a fucking snake nest and-"

"Okay!! Shikamaru I get your point, take a breather now." Tsunade interrupted, rather surprised. Shikamaru was starting to turn blue.

He took a few breaths, before concluding his long run-on sentence.

"-and Ino is there."

"Oh." Tsunade was no longer surprised why he seemed so distressed. "Well, go find Kakashi and report to Naruto's Apartment immediately. Once there assess the situation and react in an appropriate manner."

Shikamaru straightened and nodded, but he gave Tsunade an odd look when she herself began to get up.

"Hokage-sama..?" He questioned.

"I am going to get Jiraiya; we'll need more than you and Kakashi to deal with those three. I'll meet you there. Now quick get out of my office before Shizune sees you and assigns you a mission. Or something." Tsunade had barely finished her sentence and Shikamaru was gone from her office.

Taking one last gulp of Sake, Tsunade pushed open the door to her office and exited, her mutterings just barely heard under her breath.

"I swear if it weren't for those three I'd be outta my fuckin' job, since they're the only ones that cause trouble in this place-"

* * *

Her eyes reminded her of when she had first talked to Sasuke at Naruto's wedding. Hinata watched as Sakura's eyes slid through their lids, as though covered in slime, as they swiveled toward her.

But unlike the amusement that had danced in Sasuke's eyes, Sakura's bore only rough and raw anger.

The pure intensity of feeling in Sakura's eyes made Hinata's breath catch in her throat.

"S-Sakura?" The stutter again.

Sakura was standing now, as slow as her eyes, and facing Hinata, her arm slowly being raised, her fingers balling into a fist.

Hinata blinked as she watched Sakura raise her arm into a punching position, and her Byakugan was on, as if by instinct that someone was manipulating chakra. Like a camera shutter, her lids closed once and reopened, the entire landscape of the room flaring into a different light.

She could see it, the coils and chakra points in Sakura's body, and the large amount of chakra gathering in her fist.

But now, slow motion time was over and Sakura's fist sped towards Hinata, the force powerful enough to shatter a wall.

Hinata didn't like to fight. She didn't like to attack people. But she was the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, and even if her progress was slower than her little sister's, or even if her soft demeanor seemed to give off a weak atmosphere, she could defend herself. She was a chuunin shinobi now, and she was by no means completely incapable. Nor would she stand by and take a punch that could shatter her bones and kill he child within her.

As the punch flew towards her face, Hinata moved her head, and Sakura's fist flew past her left cheek. Hinata's hands flew up, her left encircling Sakura's wrist, while the right cupped beneath her elbow, forcing it straight and locking the arm. Her right foot immediately went to Sakura's left hip, and using Sakura's own momentum against her, sent Sakura tumbling over her shoulder and the top of the couch, onto the soft carpeted floor beyond.

Hinata did this without thinking. It was simply a reaction trained into her by her father's cruel tutelage. Every action creates an equally forced reaction. A simple offense required only a simple defense.

The Hyuuga heiress immediately stood up, wide eyed, turning around to look at Sakura, her hands folding and curling at her chest. She took a few steps back.

"S-Sakura?" she repeated, this time more urgently, "Are you o-okay?"

She hoped she hadn't hurt her, but at the same time, Hinata was scared. She was scared of the anger she had seen in Sakura's eyes, scared of the angry glare that Sakura was shooting her now as she began to stand.

Hinata backed up some more, but she hit the corner of the table, and she fell on her ass. Creamy eyes looked up to see Sakura approaching. What was happening? She didn't know what else to do, so she closed her eyes.

There was a loud crash, and a grunt, and then a thump. There were two sets of panting breath in the room now, and water was suddenly dripping on Hinata.

She opened her eyes, and in front of her was Sasuke, he was wet and dripping water form the outside downpour onto the floor and her legs. Sakura was in a pile on the ground next to the wall, her hand clutching her jaw as her breathing came in hisses from between her teeth. Sasuke had his sword in hand, but not in the way he usually would. The blade hovered in front of him at an angle, the hilt in his right hand, which was outstretched to his side. After looking a few times at the hilt position and the red and swelling blotch on Sakura's jaw, it became clear.

Sasuke had hit her; he had hit her with the butt end of his sword hilt, right on the jaw.

From the looks of how her jaw was hanging and the pain clouding her eyes, it seemed as though Sasuke had cracked her jaw.

Sakura's hand holding her jaw suddenly began to fill with chakra again and Hinata saw with her Byakugan that she was channeling chakra into her jaw, and she watched as the tissues and bone began to knit together. It was a mesmerizing process, but also a foreboding one.

A few seconds later, Sakura's hand fell and a sigh escaped her lips and she stood up. She took a few steps towards Sasuke. Hinata took notice that her eyes no longer held that same fury.

"Sasuke I-" She started, but she stopped and stiffened when something metal and sharp grazed her throat.

His sword now fully drawn, he now pointed it full length at Sakura, the tip of his sword tickling Sakura's pale neck. She gulped and it pressed further into her skin.

"Stay the _fuck_ away from Hinata." Sasuke said in a bone-chilling voice. Sakura's blood ran cold with fear as she was staring face to face with the rotating sharingan.

* * *

The grocery sack dropped onto the linoleum floor of the kitchen with a thud of canned beans and corn. Four oranges rolled from the sack, along with two cups of microwave ramen. A list written in angular handwriting floated down after. On the note was the careful instruction to get three braeburn apples. Braeburn was fully capitalized.

Naruto stood in the doorway connecting the kitchen to the living room. He had come in the front door, happy as usual, and then he turned the corner, to see this.

His best friend had his sword pointed at the throat of his wife, whom he loved so dearly.

The Demon's Vessel was wet, the rain having flattened his spikes of hair. His orange and black outfit was damp and dripping water as he looked at them.

His face was sad and confused, but something was changing. The air around him was seemed to sizzle with the heat of his growing anger. His growing chakra.

Naruto's hair was beginning to stand on end, the moisture drying away with sizzles, and he looked down suddenly, his face hidden.

The moisture on his clothes was also being evaporated. The room was filled with a menacing presence.

Hinata began to shake with fear at what she saw, her Byakugan still activated. She watched as Naruto's normal chakra was consumed by an angrier chakra, like a growing plague and disease, eating away at him. Sasuke didn't look at him; his bloody eyes were still focused upon Sakura.

The raven-haired Uchiha removed his left hand from his coat, the right still holding the sword to Sakura's neck. A thick parchment roll was removed, and swept his hand back, dropping it into Hinata's lap. Hinata quickly gripped it, getting the idea that Sasuke wanted his other hand free.

Sakura was no longer watching Sasuke, but her eyes were only for Naruto, his body now shaking with some emotion. She was watching his with ever-widening turquoise eyes

Hinata observed that she had seen three changes in the emotions of Sakura's eyes in less then two minutes. Fury for Hinata, Pleading for Sasuke, and now Guilt for Naruto.

"Naruto-" Sakura started, but her worried tone was only a catalyst to his raging emotions.

Naruto's face whipped up, the marks on his cheeks were widened and scratchy, and his eyes were a deep red-orange, his pupils black slits.

And explosion of red hot air shook the room, knocking pictures off the wall and knick knacks off the tables. Naruto sprang at Sasuke with an angry roar.

Why was this happening to him? His two most precious people, so which did he hurt? Which did he hate? The one with the upper hand. The one who had hit her. The one who had hurt her so many times before.

Sasuke side-stepped Naruto, removing the sword from Sakura's neck, and Naruto crashed into the wall, his shoulder making a large hole. Naruto shook it off, and began to come at Sasuke.

But Sasuke was seen breaking out the front window, falling two stories below light on his feet. Naruto followed with another frustrated roar.

Sakura and Hinata were left in the ruined room, the carpet burned from the poisonous chakra Naruto was emanating. They stared at each other in a stunned moment. Sakura then leapt out the window after her two teammates, the men she loved.

She landed upon the second story balcony as she watched Sasuke sheath his sword.

Sasuke stiffened as the rain sizzled on Naruto's heated skin. He sensed something approaching.

_Other ninja?_ He thought suspiciously. But he shouldn't have, Naruto's punch came as a flash when his sharingan wasn't focused on him, and Sasuke flew back, a burn mark on his face.

Sasuke stood, getting ready as Naruto began to charge.

* * *

Hinata sat in the ruined room, still trying to understand what was going on. What had happened? She had told Sakura who the father was, and she attacked her, and then Sasuke came. He threatened Sakura.

The Hyuuga breathed in sharply as she heard that voice echo again in her head.

_Stay the_ fuck _away from Hinata!_

He was… protecting her.

Not that he hated Sakura, not that he was protecting his child; Sasuke was protecting Hinata.

Hinata's gaze moved down to the tube of parchment in her hand. Her finger nails hooked the top of the curl, and she began to unfurl it, her cream orbs widening at what she saw.

_Marriage?!_

* * *

He was faster this time. He was faster than at the Valley of the End, but so was Sasuke. Even then, the Jinchuuriki in front of him was nothing more now but a raging killer, and his focus was only on Sasuke.

Sasuke stood up from another fall he had taken from a punch. No, this time it was a slash. The marks of claws were on his shoulder, and three tails of chakra were bubbling around Naruto.

Here he came again, that rushing blur. But now Sasuke knew what to do. Naruto slashed towards him, but Sasuke caught his wrist, wincing as the chakra protecting him began to burn at Sasuke's hand.

Naruto snarled with frustration, sounding more feral than human, and he swung his other arm, the chakra powered slash tearing deeply into the flesh of Sasuke's side. Sasuke growled in pain, his eyes narrowing into slits.

With his strength, Sasuke began to tug at Naruto's wrist, pulling him closer.

Naruto's eyes widened and he began to thrash his head, attempting to pull free, seeing he was now captive. Yet Sasuke would not allow it. His other hand whipped up, wrapping around the back of Naruto's neck, firmly gripping it, and pulling him closer, making him stop thrashing.

Their faces only six inches away now, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut tight while Sasuke opened his wide, staring at Naruto's face. The long fangs stretched from his lips, his face changed and angry, animal-like.

This wasn't his best friend, this was a monster. A monster that was simply using his best friend's body. Deep inside, Naruto was somewhere, trying hard to understand what the fuck he was doing, but this snarling and struggling beast in front of Sasuke wasn't him.

"Look at me…" Sasuke growled at him. The monster continued to hold his eyes shut, his head fighting against Sasuke's grasp.

"Look at me!" Sasuke shouted at him.

Naruto's crimson eyes opened, the pupils barely connecting with the whirling tomoe of Sasuke's sharingan, but it was enough. Suddenly, Naruto stopped struggling, and they stood their like statues, staring at each other, unblinking.

* * *

A different Sharingan narrowed at the scene. Kakashi and Shikamaru had just arrived to see the final struggles of the battle.

"Get ready, Shikamaru" He said in a dull voice, "If Sasuke fails-"

"The seal could completely break open, and the true Kyuubi could be released." Finished Jiraiya behind him.

Shikamaru turned around, looking at the two Sannin who had just arrived.

"Hello Tsunade, Jiraiya." Kakashi said, holding his hand up over his shoulder, but not turning around, "Tsunade your apprentice looks like she's about to interfere…"

And then he saw her over there, catching a jumping Sakura in mid-air, holding her back from the scene before her. Then, emerging from the door behind the two, Hinata emerged, clutching a roll of paper to her chest.

Although he couldn't hear it, he could certainly see as Sakura turned her frustration at her own captivity onto Hinata. Sakura opened her mouth and lunged at Hinata, but Tsunade caught her wrist, wrenching her back, holding her secure. Sakura cried.

* * *

_It wasn't silent like it was before._

_Sasuke always thought it odd, seeing straight into peoples souls, or what they contained. _

_It was unnerving._

_The water came up to his ankles, and he walked forward in the dim light, which grew as he continued. The sewer-like scene was a strange one._

_He could hear Naruto's voice. He was screaming, yelling, and being noisy like usual. It wasn't the same. Nothing was here. Naruto was desperate._

_"Fox? FOX?! HEY KYUUBI! You dumbfuck! Wake up! What are you doing!! WHATS GOING ON?!" Naruto's voice was in a panic._

_He was pounding on the bars to a tall cell, the door locked by a small piece of paper, binding the doors together. It was yellowed and old, but for now it would hold._

_As Sasuke approached, he found he could make out the shape of the giant orange beast within the cage. Through the bars, Kyuubi's orange eyes glowed with a devilish light. The monsters eyes were centered on Sasuke's rotating Sharingan and the crimson eyes were blank._

_The monster was transfixed by the whirling tomoe._

_Naruto continued to slam on the bars. He was surrounded in thick bubbles of orange chakra bubbles. The power was leached to him._

_The Fox's head moved to follow Sasuke's path into the room. It was then that Naruto noticed the massive beast was staring at something. He whirled around, his back against the bars, water spraying around his shins, the chakra surrounding his body swirling as the sudden movements agitated it._

_"Sasuke! You're the one who did this!!" He shouted, but it was obvious he was nervous._

_With a sweep of Sasuke's hand, the Chakra bubbles dissipated into thin air, retreating back within the bars._

_The simple movement made Naruto whirl his head from side to side in a panic. He knew that Sasuke ruled this place. Without Kyuubi, Naruto could do nothing within his own soul against the swirling menace that was the Sharingan._

_Regaining his confidence after a moment of hesitation, Naruto strengthened his convictions against Sasuke. "You've always been jealous of me! That's why you hit Sakura!! That's why you were going to kill her! I won't let you hurt her! I won't!" He screamed at Sasuke. His voice cracked once. _

_Sasuke stopped in front of Naruto. They were roughly five feet away from each other. Moments passed, and nothing was heard except for the dripping of water and the panting breath of Naruto. _

_The Jinchuuriki opened his mouth to spout another bout of accusations._

_"Naruto." Sasuke's voice rang out steady and calm in the massive sewer room, silencing Naruto before he could start. "Sakura came to me before your wedding, and she told me she loved you, but that she still loved me. I told her she couldn't have the both of us. A few weeks before our mission she tried again. That was when I punched her."_

_Naruto's eyes widened, and began to fill with tears. His Sakura? The one he had always pledged his life and love to? The one who had promised hers back? She still wasn't over Sasuke?_

_Blood red sharingan eyes darted to the side with indecisions. Sasuke didn't want to disclose anymore, but Naruto was his best friend. The Uchiha didn't want to admit it, but no one had come closer to knowing his pain than he had._

_"Hinata and I… are involved with each other" He said, cautiously censoring out other ...minor… details. "And when Sakura found out, I saw her attack Hinata. I had to protect Hinata." _

_His Sakura was still so lovesick over Sasuke to attack another girl? Hinata, the most kind and soft girl in the world… and his own wife had blindly raged towards her. Naruto fell to his knees in the water, making a splash as his teardrops made a thick dripping noise when they hit the surface of the liquid. Who had he married? Naruto thought he knew Sakura better than anyone. But now Naruto was convincing himself he didn't know Sakura at all._

_And in his blind trust in her, Naruto had attacked the man trying to protect him._

_A single sob shook his frame. He felt like his heart had exploded with betrayal. Had this been the feeling Hinata felt? Had she suffered through this when he denied her? Had she suffered just like this? His thought was cut off by the noise of disturbed water. Naruto felt a single hand on his shoulder. He looked up into Sasuke's red eyes, the rotating tomoe._

_Sasuke had squatted down to let his eyes become even with Naruto's. The Sharingan wielder didn't like comforting physical contact nor was he good at giving it, but the situation seemed to require it. He put his gloved hand on top of Naruto's shaking shoulder. _

_"I won't let her hurt you." Naruto heard him say, as the world began to swim like the rotating black pupils his aqua blue eyes were trained on._

_But it was too late._

* * *

**A/N: THIS IS NOT SASUNARU.**

**I am trying to show to the dynamics of the brotherly relationship Sasuke and Naruto have, whether they like it or not.**

**I have a best friend who is like a brother to me. We are like twins. Our relationship reminds me of Sasuke's and Naruto's. I no longer have a choice but be his best friend, because to sever that bond with him would be like trying to cut off my arm. I've tried once when we had a really nasty fight and I've never felt so empty. **

**So whether my friend and I or Sasuke and Naruto like it or not, the bonds created just can't be cut.**

**Two three more chapters until this story is done?**

**Next one is sure to come out one week from today, it's already written.**


	10. Waking up

**A/N: This chapter was actually the second half of the last chapter, but I split it because a 23 page long chapter that wasn't even close to being finished (I had planned on it being the last chapter) seemed a bit unrealistic.**

**So this chapter isn't even the end. Two more chapters plus an epilogue at the most that could be possible, no more than that though.**

* * *

_There!_ Thought Kakashi, as his Sharingan eye focused in on the subtle movement of Sasuke's hand. The grip on Naruto's neck loosened its death grip. The red chakra biting into Sasuke's skin was gone, almost as fast as it had showed up, and Naruto's mauling grip on Sasuke's mangled side was freed.

Their eyes closed, and they both began to fall backwards.

Kakashi and Jiraiya zoomed forward, each just barely catching their students before they hit the ground.

"Shikamaru!" Kakashi ordered, "Get a medic squad, quick."

Shikamaru was standing wide-eyed back on the roof, still confused as to what he had seen, but at the command of Kakashi, he nodded and zoomed away.

"I've got severe chakra burns and multiple slash wounds here on Sasuke, and he's unconscious." Kakashi assessed, "What about you Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya scanned over his student's body, and he took a quick peek at Sasuke's. He winced at the condition of The Uchiha's side, the memory of his own wound on his chest from the Kyuubi Naruto fresh in his mind.

"I've got large patches of chakra burnt skin, but they're already healing themselves. It seems that he's unconscious due to large chakra loss. Sasuke maybe went too far suppressing the Kyuubi this time." He said with a click of disappointment as he looked him over.

Kakashi gently laid Sasuke's head on the ground. He stripped off his Jounin vest and firmly pressed it to Sasuke's bleeding side. Sasuke was so deeply unconscious that his face didn't even flicker.

Kakashi shot Jiraiya a look. "I'd rather have Naruto recovering in a bed for a few days than a Monster Fox wreaking havoc on Konoha. Again."

Jiraiya shrugged and he too laid Naruto's head gently on the ground. "Fair enough."

* * *

_Ouch._

His obsidian eyes cracked open the tiniest bit and he looked straight upwards. Ceiling tiles were rushing past. Then, he couldn't see them; something human shaped was blocking his view. His blurry eyes slowly focused in on Shizune's scrutinizing face. She was bouncing up and down as though she was running. She was going to make him sick.

His head felt light like a balloon. It was going to float away any minute if they didn't tape it back on.

"We need some anesthesia over here! He's waking up!" Shizune was yelling. Sasuke winced. Loud, always so loud. Why were medics so loud? It hurt to yell like that. His balloon head was going to pop if they did that.

Suddenly a plastic cup descended on his face, and he breathed in. His body felt heavy. Another breath and it was as though someone had sewed rocks to his eyelids.

As he breathed in again, Sasuke heard something about surgery, blood loss, and skin damage.

As the voices faded out, Sasuke's last thought was, _I've had worse, maybe._

* * *

Tsunade slumped in her chair in her office. Someone had found her soft chair. She was tempted to fall asleep. Sakura herself had fallen immediately asleep on the couch to the left of her office after Tsunade had dragged her into the healing room to heal the excess chakra burns on Naruto's body.

The door came open and Shizune entered, plonking down in a guest chair. She glowered at Tsunade.

The Hokage tiredly opened her mouth. "Repo-"

The door burst open, and Tsunade gave an exasperated sigh.

Shikamaru strode into the room and glowered at her.

_Why am I always the center of blame in this freaking building?_ She thought.

"Report." She finally got out, pointing to Shizune.

"Sasuke Uchiha had a multitude of chakra burns and large slash wounds on his shoulder and chest. Multiple puncture and slash wounds on his side. We managed to heal most of the slash wounds, but the large side wound couldn't be fully healed, so it has been stitched up for natural healing. Chakra burns were troubling, as Kyuubi Chakra is purposely hard to heal, so most burns will require further healing. Uchiha is in Intensive care due to the large amount of chakra expended into his sharingan."

Tsunade nodded and turned to Shikamaru.

"The damage around the area of the fight is being readily cleaned up. Ino is at her home, Sakura is over there," Shikamaru pointed sarcastically, "but Hinata is missing in action, although it is presumed she went home. Would you like me to stop by The Hyuuga estate and see if-"

"No." Tsunade cut off Shikamaru without hesitation, "She'll be fine. Leave her be."

Tsunade took another deep breath and she addressed Shizune. "Naruto has extensive chakra burns on most of his body due to the Kyuubi cloak. Sasuke thoroughly suppressed the Kyuubi's chakra, so he's healing slowly, even though we've been healing him for a few hours now. Due to his low activity of Chakra, he too had been placed in Intensive care. It should be noted that Sasuke and Naruto are to be in different rooms until one wakes up and speaks."

Worn and calloused fingers moved upwards to rub her temples. Tsunade's husband had said that he didn't care that her hands would always be rough. He said that they proved that she was a talented and hard working shinobi. Tsunade looked up and surveyed her ninja.

"Shizune, get the fuck out of my office and go home and rest. I don't care if you need to take care of some other patients. You're second in command, assign someone else to them." She knew her words wouldn't hurt Shizune, as they were meant out of only a rough love. Tsunade turned her thunderous glare to Shikamaru, "You will take Sakura home to your house to sleep, since her apartment is either trashed or too emotional as of right now. And don't wake her up, she's probably cranky. Then go home and don't come back until after midday tomorrow, got it?"

Shikamaru nodded multiple times. He lifted Sakura up into his arms, and padded out the door. Shizune picked herself up and stalked out the room next, too tired to argue for once.

In her peace and quiet, Tsunade pulled a small key from her bra, and leaned down, unlocking a drawer at the bottom right of her desk. A single white emergency bottle of hard liquor sat in the drawer.

Picking it up so as not to spill it, Tsunade brought the bottle to her lips, and then threw her head back. In four short gulps, she had downed the whole bottle. Slamming the bottle onto her desk, she settleed back into her chair and took a breath, her head lolling backwards. She soon tumbled into such a deep sleep not even the thick booms of thunder of the storm outside could wake her.

* * *

Shikamaru was greeted by a flustered Ino at the door of their ground level apartment. The living room was unbearably clean, meaning she was nervous. He knew she was a nervous cleaner.

Her beautiful lips opened and closed with a frustrated grimace when she saw the sleeping Sakura in his arms. She quickly motioned to the couch area while she bustled into the kitchen, heading for the bedroom closet adjoining to the kitchen.

She came back with some blankets. She spread the out over her best friend, and then stood back to admire her work. Her best friend was comfortable.

She then turned to Shikamaru, and the satisfied expression she once bore turned into anger.

Before Shikamaru could react, Ino had him by the collar, dragging him into the bedroom. He ground his teeth together as to not protest and wake Sakura.

Once in the bedroom, Ino immediately pushed him into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" She whispered heatedly to him.

Normally he would grin at having an argument in whispers, but risking bringing Ino's anger level from whispers to full-out roar kept his smile down.

"Uhhh.." But before he could say anything, she cut him off again.

"You leave me with a fragile shy girl, and loud mouthed often angry Sakura, who would personally strangle any of Sasuke's love interests, and expect me to keep the details on the child's father a SECRET?!" Ino was still whispering angrily.

Shikamaru's brown eyes swept to the side in guilt. "Okay that was a bit unfair but-" He attempted to whisper back.

The blonde demon cut him off again. "UNFAIR? Shikamaru I am an expert of getting people to TELL me their secrets, not a master of making them KEEP them!" More whispering. It was starting to give Shikamaru a headache.

Yes, that was a bit unfair. Ino was renowned for her shinobi spy abilities and her talent in extracting information from unknowing victims without consequence. He had left her a bit out of her element.

"And THEN you just disappear for hours after Kakashi sends me off home. Honestly you didn't even tell me where the hell you were! You could have been dead for all I knew! You-"

Ino stopped her fervent whispering for a moment as Shikamaru mumbled something nearly incoherent.

"What?" Ino asked, cocking her head to listen better.

"I said I'm sorry!" Shikamaru said in a normal voice. He stood up and embraced Ino. She was stiff with surprise, but she soon loosened up and hugged him back.

"Thank god you're back, you lazy fuck." She whispered with relief.

* * *

Hinata sighed. She was at Sasuke's house. At the kitchen table, she sat and stared at the contract. The parchment roll was winning every staring contest so far (though she suspected that it was because it didn't have eyes in the first place).

Marriage. It was a big improvement than sending her out in the rain.

After she had come out of Naruto's apartment, Sakura had turned to her and screamed. Nothing intelligent came out, or even discernable, but what she did know is that Sakura was distressed over her two teammates. Hinata had already cried a lot that day, so When Sakura had tried to attack her, the Hyuuga had stood there, her body and mind numb.

Tsunade had probably saved her. She caught Sakura and pulled her back, her super human strength holding back her distressed apprentice.

_"Go, Hinata."_ Tsunade had said with soft brown eyes, _"Go home."_

So with a final look at the bleeding Sasuke, who was now falling, falling towards the hard ground, she turned her back to the scene in the rain, and she fled. She fled to the only thing that felt like home anymore.

It was ironically Sasuke's house.

Her house didn't feel safe anymore, especially now that her father had drawn up the marriage contract.

Sasuke had asked her father first. Some girls would think this as romantic, but Hinata knew Sasuke was just eliminating a possible interference by her father.

Was he even going to give her a ring? Or was he just going to ask her to sign it? She knew Sasuke wasn't the romantic type, but you'd think he'd know something about the sentimental value of tradition.

Hinata stood up, her face hard, her mouth set in a grim line. She walked over to the drawer, and she got out an old fountain pen Sasuke had. She changed the cartridge, and then advanced on the parchment. She hesitated, but then unrolled it. She had already read it thoroughly, but she read it again just to be sure.

Or she was just delaying.

The pen hovered over the blank line where she would sign her name. A drop of black ink gathered at the tip, and dripped onto the paper. It soaked it up immediately. Hinata immediately removed her hovering hand, and she quickly wound the paper back up and left it on the table. She then threw the pen on the counter and fast-walked into the bedroom, where she flopped down and shut the light off, not even bothering to change her clothes.

Marriage was a huge decision. Maybe… Maybe she should think about it a little longer.

Besides, she had to make sure Sasuke was alive before she signed it.

_I'll… go see him tomorrow._

* * *

He was drowning.

Always, he was drowning. Naruto hated these dreams. His dream lungs screamed for fresh air and bubbles erupted from his mouth as he swam towards the surface with all his might.

The surface only moved farther away. No matter how much he tried, the more effort me put into it, the more the surface moved away.

The more he hurt and started to die.

The water and the light coming from the surface began to fade away to black. He was going to die now. They say that if you die in a dream you die in real life.

But before he could die, something was pumping his chest, and Naruto's eyes snapped open. A raspy breath drew into his lungs with a rattle. His lids sank half way over his lids again.

Everything was blurry. He couldn't see anything yet, but shapes were moving beyond his vision. Something cold touched his lips. Something wet followed, coming from the cold solid.

"Water…" Someone murmured to him.

He opened his mouth and the water spilled inwards in small increments. His tongue, which had felt thick and swollen, was now refreshed and clear. His breaths came softer now, and Naruto no longer panted.

He waited as everything came into focus.

Light was shining in from a Window in the white room he was in. Naruto could feel the scratchy fabric of the nightgown he was in, and the stiff bleached sheets that imprisoned him. The sun was shining in through the window. It was nearly setting. Had it been almost a day since him and Sasuke had met in the chamber of the Kyuubi?

She was there. Though his mind saw her as beautiful and registered the dark circles beneath her eyes, the turquoise color washed with worry, his heart ached with what he knew. He closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at her. So he didn't have to know that it was her carefully gifting him water.

He knew everything now. He knew what had happened. Someone had filled him in, and now that someone came to mind.

"Sasuke." He rasped.

"He's not awake yet." Was her answer, but it was stained with worry, sadness, and beyond that longing. It was mixed all together like the chemicals in his IV, but he knew her above all else. He knew what she was thinking by the sound of her voice.

Naruto turned his cheek to the next water offering.

"Naruto…" He grimaced. Hearing her say his name hurt all the more. "Sasuke.. he was just-"

"I know." Naruto cut her off, his voice cold. Sakura felt his raw emotion. "I know everything. Sasuke told me everything. I know what you've said. I know what you've done."

He turned his face back to Sakura and stared into her eyes.

He didn't need to say it, because he know that she could see it in his eyes. Their vows.

_Sakura, I give you my love, and my life and my heart. It shall be only for you, I swear it.  
Naruto, I give you my heart, and everything with it. My love is for you, and you alone._

Sakura looked away. Her eyes were filled with tears and shame.

Naruto gulped and he stared at her hard.

"I want.." He started, "I want my bed to be placed by Sasuke's. I want a different nurse. And-" he gulped and cleared his throat, "and I want you to go away."

For a moment, the room was tight. No one moved, or even breathed.

Then, with a strangled sob, Sakura stood, and turned towards the door. Big fat tears were rolling down her face, and she left the room.

Naruto let his head fall back with a sigh. He shut his eyes and began to consciously regulate his breathing to a normal rate. He could hear Sakura's strained voice outside talking to the nurse.

She was relaying his first two demands. The third was for her ears and hers alone.

* * *

She started crying when she first saw him. Never had Hinata been so shocked.

They couldn't put a blanket on him, because of the extent of his wounds. They had to be visually monitored. They couldn't risk Sasuke bleeding out under a thick wool blanket and the doctors not noticing it.

He was covered in miscellaneous bandages all over his body. There was a large patch of gauze taped to his left shoulder. A smaller patch was taped to his right cheek. His entire left forearm was bandaged, including all his fingers and his entire hand and wrist. Sasuke's right wrist and hand was wrapped in thick gauze too. His legs were scratched up and bruised, but required no bandage. His whole midsection was bandaged. The white gauze strips wrapped tightly around padding over the thick wound on his right side. She could see a dark stain beneath the white, slowly soaking through towards the surface where his side had been mangled by Naruto's nails and chakra.

Despite that, it was the appearance on his face that made her cry.

He looked dead. Sasuke's eyes were closed, his skin looking so pale that it seemed like that of a man drained of blood. Hinata couldn't even tell if he was breathing, but the beeping of the heart monitor ensured her that he was alive.

After controlling her sobs, she stalked forward on tip-toes, her hand reaching out to him. Her gentle fingers swept the strands of dark hair off his forehead, her fingertips just brushing the skin. She recoiled instantly. He was warm, but not dangerously so. It was surprising to see him so lifeless but feeling his body as alive as she did now.

Sasuke had always been warm, but he had always seemed something more graceful than usual people, like some sort of outer being. Still, seeing him so hurt and vulnerable surprised her, because never had he been so fragile than he was now. Or at least that she knew of.

She turned and set the thick roll of parchment on the small end table in the corner before grabbing a visitors chair and dragging it towards Sasuke. She sat in the chair and looked at him.

After a moment or two of hesitation, Hinata's hand reached out and she stroked Sasuke's cheek with her index finger.

He made no movement, nor any sign that he felt it, but she continued anyways.

* * *

Lids snapped open, revealing wide red eyes to the world. They immediately shut.

The beeps on the machine hooked to Sasuke monitoring his heart beat skipped up in intensity and his lungs drew in a loud ragged breath. Then another.

Sasuke's eyes opened carefully once again, this time the color of obsidian rock. They darted around the room nervously. It was dark, and his whole body was burning, itching and sweating.

His lungs were like hot sacks of burning air. It felt like Sasuke hadn't breathed in a month. His tongue was thick in his mouth from lack of water, but he knew that his body was receiving the liquids he needed through the IV in his arm. Sasuke could feel exactly where in was. A small point of discomfort among skin that was burning with unknown heat.

Sasuke continued to gasp for air in the dark while his eyes adjusted. Soon, he could make out a window on the wall far to his right. Sasuke could faintly see a few stars outside. His eyes snapped to his left as something moved in peripheral vision. He tensed, which was a bad idea. His burns and wounds all sang out in protest and Sasuke grunted. Then the pain gathered to the right side of his midsection, and he let loose a tiny whimper of pain. It was excruciating. The chakra poisoning he guessed was there let him feel every dimension of the wound. It was bad. The stitches held it loosely together, but it was slow to heal. He could feel the multiple slash wounds crossed over and over again, then stabbed by claws in Naruto's frustration of being captured.

It was oozing blood. Sasuke could see the other needle in his arm was for a sack of blood slowly flowing into him, as the blood near his wound slowly went out.

Once again something moved to his left. This time Sasuke merely looked rather than tensing. His eyes adjusted to the light and finally made out what was there. The spiky crown of hair was definitely Naruto's. There was no mistaking it. From what Sasuke could tell, Naruto was hooked up to no other IV's or cords and he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

So Sasuke wasn't alone in his suffering.

A noise to his right. Sasuke's eyes darted that way to see something roused at the sound of his ragged breathing.

She was here. Hinata was here. Sasuke's breath caught as she gazed at him, still covered in the haze of sleep.

"Hinata" Sasuke said. Or at least he tried to. It came out as a horrid coughing noise, due to the lack of moisture in his mouth.

She snapped out of her daze, and her eyes widened. She stood up and dashed from the room, the door slamming behind her.

Naruto's body seized in surprise while he slept and he began to wake up. He immediately started whining.

"Heyyyyy… whaz the big ideaaa..?"

Sasuke winced at the loud noise, and made another coughing noise. He had meant to say 'Shut up' but speaking wasn't working out quite yet.

He had caught Naruto's attention, however, and Naruto squinted at him in the dark.

"Sasuke! You're awa-" His jubilant yell was cut short as the door burst open and the lights flickered on. A nurse hustled within, followed by Hinata.

He squeezed his eyes shut tight against the intrusion and moaned to sound his discomfort.

"He needs water." Snapped the nurse, picking up a bottle up from a tray. She touched the lip of the bottle to Sasuke's lips and his eyes reopened. Hinata could see him inspecting it before he finally opened his lips. Rather than taking it small increments, Sasuke surprised the nurse by moving slightly forward and taking a medium gulp of water.

He gently swished it around his mouth, and then swallowed it. The cool water shocked his stomach from its sleep. The waters temperature seemed to spread from his stomach and cool his flaming innards.

Sasuke took a few more small sips before he turned his head from the water. Naruto and Hinata looked on.

"How long have I been out?" He questioned. Sasuke's voice was raspy, but at least it was understandable.

"Three days" Hinata supplied with her soft voice. He looked at her, catching her eyes before she could dart them away. They were slightly red, and she had dark circles under her eyes. Sasuke had caught her sleeping at the end of his bed. She had been very worried.

Three days? Sasuke could feel his stomach starting to wake up; starting to notice it was empty.

He looked to Naruto. His aqua eyes were soft with worry directed at Sasuke.

"You look like a kicked puppy." He grunted at Naruto. Anything to stop the sympathy and sorrowful feeling emanating from him.

Naruto smiled sadly. "And you look like a chew toy."

"Ahem…" Said the nurse. She needed to check up on him. Sasuke was silent as she checked his temperature and the likes. When she was done, she asked, "Would you like me to get you some food?"

Sasuke nodded. She left.

Naruto was still watching him. Hinata was still standing there at the end of the bed. She was watching him closely, with ever growing discomfort.

Guilty. Hinata felt so very guilty. It was her that had driven him to get so hurt like he was. Why had he gone so far for her?

She glanced to the corner. There was a small table there, and on it was the parchment roll. Sasuke easily followed her gaze. His eyes narrowed, and he knew she had read it.

"Sit down." He said gesturing to the chair beside his bed with a slight movement of his head. When he had woken up, she had been sleeping there, her head and arms resting on the unoccupied part of the bed.

She did.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Two thirty-four in the morning." Naruto said. He glowered at Sasuke. "Leave it to you to wake up while everyone is sleeping…" He yawned.

Sasuke shot back a glare. "Well when did you wake up?"

"Two days ago, around sunset. They're discharging me tomorrow morning." He replied, ignoring the venom is Sasuke's voice.

"Good, you look fat in that nightgown."

"You look like shit." Naruto shot right back.

"I do not smell, idiot." He said is a pompous voice.

Hinata sighed, and attracted both their attention. She looked about ready to cry. Before either man could say anything, the door came open again. The nurse shuffled in with a tray of a multitude of food. When she set it down next to the parchment roll at the far corner, Sasuke attempted to inspect the food, but he couldn't see it.

"Can I get propped up or something?" Sasuke drawled. The nurse nodded and pressed a button next to the bed. It hurt to no longer be straight, and he felt a slight bit of vertigo, but he felt better somewhat upright soon enough.

Sasuke frowned. The tray consisted of gelatin, pudding, tomato soup, and other none solid stuff. The nurse hovered over the tray. "Which would you like first?" she asked.

"Just leave it, I can't decide quite yet." He said in a polite voice.

The nurse smiled and, though she was puzzled, she left.

The moment the door closed, Sasuke turned to Hinata. "I'd like the tomato soup."

Hinata looked up. She was very surprised. "Wh-what?" she sputtered.

Sasuke didn't respond. The demand was obvious enough. He couldn't move his arms without large amounts of pain, so she'd have to feed him.

Naruto was listening in again. Since Sasuke had awoken he had been studying Sasuke and Hinata the whole time they talked to each other. So far, he had been silent, but now Naruto voiced his own opinion.

"Eh, Sasuke you're really rude! Hinata has been stressed out about you this whole time and the moment you wake up you demand her to feed you?" Naruto's face scrunched up in annoyance as he said this.

Sasuke glowered at Naruto. It was a clear 'Shut the fuck up' look. The Uchiha turned to Hinata with a sigh.

"I'd like you to feed me the tomato soup…" Sasuke ground out his words, all save the last, which was a light request, "..please?"

In Sasuke's peripheral vision, Naruto beamed.

Hinata gazed at him for a moment before nodding. The situation nearly made the Hyuuga smile. She stood up and retrieved the tomato soup.

The feeding was awkward and fast. Hinata seemed to be bothered by something, so Sasuke ate without protest. By the time the bowl was halfway gone Naruto was already snoring on the other bed. Hinata also seemed very tired. Sasuke suddenly felt guilty for keeping her up just to take care of him.

When the bowl was empty Hinata set it upon the tray it came from, and sat back down in the chair next to Sasuke. Her hands folded into her lap and she stared at them.

Sasuke studied her. Emotions and thoughts flashed through his thoughts.

How much had changed over the course of their past few meetings? Sasuke could guess she was hurt from his rejection in the rain. He could guess she was confused from his sudden and fierce protection of her. He could guess she was surprised by his marriage proposal. But now that he had been unconscious for so long, what was she feeling now?

"How are you?" Sasuke prodded.

Small details are what Sasuke was good at spotting. His Sharingan eyes used four pupils, three of them rotating, to catch the light reflecting off the target to see the subtle details in their movements, which he could use to predict the next move moments before it happened. So as he used the sharingan, he learned to pick them out specifically. After using his sharingan so much, it became habit to look at small details even when it wasn't activated.

As soon as Sasuke posed his question, Hinata's hand moved toward her stomach.

"Tired." She replied. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, she was being purposely distant.

"I'm sorry I kept you up." The beeping of his heart monitor was the only noise between their words. Even Naruto had stopped snoring.

She nodded.

"Can you grab the light?" He suggested.

She stood without answering and shut the light off. Sasuke could see her silhouette move back to the chair next to his bed in the dark. She sat down again and her arms moved back onto the bed, her head following to rest upon them.

Sasuke said nothing, but he closed his eyes and let out a small sigh as the darkness soothed his eyes.

Something touched his fingertips, and Sasuke's breath caught. Then he relaxed, realizing that her fingertips had been touching his when he had woken up, too.

Sasuke's own finger pads twitched against hers and the darkness of sleep washed over him before he could realize he was tired.

* * *

**A/N: Kind of an interlude, setting it up for the next updates. Next Chapter will consist of a lot of NaruSaku. This splitting them makes me sad because they are so vibrant together.**

**Must fix it.**

**Also, please check out my biography page, it tells of upcoming stories and announcements are at the top, including one that says all fics after Then and Now (with the exception of drabble fics) will be completed before being posted due to whiny little brats.**


	11. Go Away

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with, you know, life.**

**Sakura-centric chapter. The fail that is my plot-skills is so evident, so here I go, trying to patch it up.**

**I write this story when I am procrastinating or in between homework and time with the boyfriend ('cause romance is so much better when its not written by yourself :D )  
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**Man, I hate this story. But I'll finish it anyway.**

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After being Tsunade's apprentice for so long, Haruno Sakura had witnessed many of her angry rants. She had seen her yell at every different kind of personal or ninja imaginable. From the most powerful ANBU to the weakest of academy students, everyone was cowed by her ferocious temper.

So to Sakura, her mentor's yell was not nearly as frightening as her silence.

The fifth Hokage sat with her desk eerily neat and her elbows planted on its surface. Fingers clasped, she leaned her chin upon her hands and stared at Sakura with stormy brows.

This had been going on for five minutes since Sakura was called into the office. All she could do was fidget.

In the academy, Sakura had never once been called to the office, but she had a strong inkling that this was what it was like. Sakura immediately regretted tattling on Naruto and sentencing him to such treatment.

In a move that made Sakura jump a little, Tsunade sat back in her chair with a sigh, not breaking her stare.

"After collecting the facts about the events four days prior to today and the circumstances leading up to it, I have called you into my office today to give out your punishment." Tsunade started. She failed to include that any other Ninja would have been in custody and that her punishment should have been doled out three days ago. Tsunade had stalled in acting as long as she could, due to the lack of information and to her torn feelings on how to deal with her own apprentice.

"Your actions four days ago were… irrational, irresponsible, and something I, as your mentor, feel partially responsible for. Your failure to act like a smart ninja and, more importantly, a functioning adult will result in your temporary suspension for an undecided amount of time." Tsunade drawled, disappointment dripping from each word, "Do not report to your duty as a medic at the hospital tomorrow or until your suspension is lifted, and you will not be assigned any missions nor be able to leave the village until further notice. When you do go on missions, you will not be paid until I deem fit. All of your earnings will go to the village of Konoha instead."

Sakura wilted. She had expected a suspension and disappointment, but her teachers distant way of dealing with her hurt more than any regulation punishment.

As Sakura got ready to leave, assuming she was to be dismissed, Tsunade raised her finger, motioning for Sakura to wait a moment.

"As your Hokage, I have issued this punishment like I would any other." She continued, her voice heavy with warning, "But as your Teacher and friend, I suggest you take this as an opportunity to really think about your actions, and your mistakes. I also suggest you make amends to anyone you may have hurt."

When Tsunade was done, she glowered at Sakura, her lips twitching into a frown. She opened her mouth to say something, but she caught herself, clucked at Sakura, and then shook her head in disappointment before swinging around on her chair to face the windows of her office.

"Dismissed!" She barked.

Sakura's chin sank to her chest, her eyes staring at her feet. She stayed there for a moment, thoroughly shamed, before she stood and slowly shuffled from the room.

* * *

The first place the medic went was back to hers (and Naruto's) apartment. The complex area was quiet, and Sakura was thankful that none of her neighbors had peaked from behind their curtains to see her face.

Sakura had been sleeping at Ino's for the past four days, relatively quiet and retrospective. But at Tsunade's reprimanding, Sakura felt compelled to get her ass in gear and clean this mess up. Besides, she felt like doing some mindless work.

After talking to the manager about the incident and assuring her that all repairs would be paid for from her own pocket, the medic was given the go ahead to what she wished. When Sakura arrived at the apartment, she noticed that the glass from the window had been cleaned up and the hole had been covered by a tarp.

Entering the apartment, Sakura wrinkled her nose at the smell of her nasty cooking, which had been left stagnant on the stove. The kitchen was filled with dirty dishes from the incomplete dinner. In the doorway to the living room, there was a paper bag on the ground, along with five oranges and some other groceries spread around. Pictures laid face down on the floor after being knocked off the walls. A vase had been turned over on the table and the flowers it had contained were dry and dead on the floor. The pungent smell of burnt cloth was faint in the air, the consequence of the Nine-tailed burning Chakra.

When she stepped into the bedroom, Sakura felt a stabbing pain in her chest. Naruto had been dismissed yesterday, she knew, but she had no courage to go to him. She had hoped that she might find him here just so she would be forced to confront him. Looking at the messy room that she had last seen clean, it was obvious that he had been and gone. The tiny closet where he kept his long term mission gear was open and various things were missing, including his bedroll. The dresser drawers were thrown open, and some of his clothes had been tossed on the floor.

He was gone, off somewhere in the village.

Sakura swallowed hard, and began to pick up and fold the clothes of his he had dropped, placing them back in the drawer just as neat as she did when it was her turn to do the laundry.

When the only Kunoichi of Team Seven was finished, the apartment looked nearly normal. She sat on the couch in her small living room, blue light filtering through the tarp window and bathing her face and body.

The carpet in the living room would need replacing. There was a large dent in the wall, and the window needed replacing, of course. She sighed, it would all have to wait until she was off suspension so she could get a steady source of money.

Suddenly, Tsunade's words about making amends came back to Sakura. She checked her watch, and it was nearly two o'clock. She had plenty of time to visit the hospital before visiting hours closed at six.

Standing, Sakura moved out the door and looked at the kitchen dejectedly. After a small sigh, she shut the door and locked it. Slipping the key into a pocket, she turned and leaped from the catwalk onto the roof, and towards the hospital.

* * *

_It's… cute._

Bound and bandaged, Sasuke mentally scolded himself for using such an immature word to describe the soft whistling noise that Hinata made as she slept.

Once again, Hinata had slept with her upper body leaned against the end of Sasuke's hospital bed. He had told her (quite firmly) that she should go home and sleep. Despite this, she had insisted she stay with him the rest of the night.

The room was empty besides the two. Naruto had been discharged early in the morning (he had managed to wake Sasuke and Hinata both up, causing Sasuke to berate him until he left, leaving the two in peace) and Sasuke had awoken a few hours later. Hinata was not yet awake, so Sasuke had the opportunity to watch Hinata sleep.

And it was… cute.

She seemed to… latch… onto anything close enough, in this case, his blanket. Then, a soft whistling snore sounded every time she breathed out.

In his attempt to think of another word to describe her sleeping habits, Sasuke's brows clouded and lowered into an intense glare directed at Hinata's sleeping form. In her slumber, she took no notice.

When the door opened quietly, Sasuke's head swiveled and his already focused glare hit the intruder at full force. It darkened as soon as his eyes registered the tell-tale pink color.

"Leave." He whispered harshly.

Sakura ignored him, and instead entered the room and closed the door behind her quietly. Then, she moved into the room a bit and stood there, looking at him, her turquoise eyes moving from Sasuke to Hinata and then back again.

Sasuke's dark eyes smoldered in fury.

"I'm sorry." Sakura whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Oh really?" Sasuke whispered back, his voice harsh and cutting, dripping with sarcasm.

Sakura looked away, and down towards the floor. They stayed like this for a bit, until Sakura's eyes moved back up and over his bandages, the business-like gleam of a medic visible in her eyes. They rested upon Sasuke's chest.

"Let me heal you." She said in a soft, gentle voice.

Sasuke's eyes darted to Hinata, who was still asleep soundly.

"I promise, Sasuke, I-" She stopped, struggling for words, "…Just give me a chance?"

It was a last ditch attempt, and Sasuke knew it. She knew, and always had, that Sasuke wasn't a very forgiving person. He held grudges, and his past was a testament to that behavior. Hell, the whole village knew it!

However, Sasuke could also see the she was serious. Sakura had never made mistakes, really. She often felt bad for failing to act, but Sakura had rarely done something she had felt compelled to apologize for. Now, Sasuke was ready to take full advantage of her humbled state.

He jerked his chin at her, motioning her to come closer. Sakura immediately came to his side.

"I'm so sorry, Sas-" She started in a quiet voice as her hands began to glow green and press against his mauled side.

"Shut up…" He ground out quietly as the pain in his side washed away, "Save your apologies for when I'm done talking."

Then they were silent for a bit, and Sasuke's jaw worked as he carefully chose his words, much like he chose his sword.

"Naruto…" He started, "…is particularly weak to emotional pains… and you blindsided him. You betrayed him."

"So did you!" She interrupted in a fierce whisper.

"That was different." He hissed back, "He trusted you, Sakura, and shouldered all of your burdens." She flinched at this, knowing what he was referring to. "And you repaid him with this? Goddamnit Sakura, he loves you like he has never loved before. He gave everything to you, and you stabbed him in the back." Sakura's hands shook with guilt as he spoke. "The worst part… The worst part is that you picked me. Even after all he's done for you since we were kids, you still picked me."

Tears began to slide down Sakura's cheek despite her attempts to stop them. She suddenly realized how this must have felt to Naruto. It must have felt like, no matter what he had done for her, he was not good enough for her.

Naruto had spent all his life trying to be acknowledged by everyone, and he had succeeded, except for one person.

Or so he thought, and it killed Sakura to think that he didn't know how much he meant to her.

"You can't have both of us, Sakura." Sasuke whispered coldly.

His words had the same impact as if he had stuck his hand, sparking blue, through her chest. They were the very same words that Sasuke had growled at her in a drunken rage when she had first tried to tell him she still loved him.

"I know." She admitted brokenly. Then the tears really came, and her chest shook with muffled sobs. Her chakra flickering out, Sakura's hands scrubbed at her face, now blotched red with emotion.

Sasuke sat impassively as Sakura cried. He had said what she had needed to hear, and he wasn't the one she should apologize to.

As Sakura's crying got progressively out of control, Hinata was roused from her peaceful slumber. Through sleep-heavy eyes, Hinata acknowledged that Sakura was in the room.

Then she panicked. White eyes wide and awake, Hinata sat bolt upright and she uttered a squeal of surprise. Chakra and adrenaline pumped through her body and into her eyes, the Byakugan flaring to life. Her hand rose from the bed, chakra focused in her finger tips.

Something caught her hand by the wrist.

"Don't." Sasuke grunted.

Hinata turned to look at Sasuke. Sharingan stared into Byakugan, and a pained look leaked across Sasuke's face. Hinata then realized that he has wrapped his burned hand around her wrist, his whole chest shaking with the effort to hold his arm up.

Alarmed, Hinata immediately drained the chakra from her fingers and eyes. Sasuke released her wrist, slowly bringing his arm back down to the bed. A breath he had held throughout the process puffed out of his lips and his chest rose faster than before.

Sakura, having looked up just in time to see Sasuke catching Hinata's wrist, looked like she was on the verge of tears again.

"Sakura just came to apologize, Hinata." Sasuke said dangerously, his head turned towards Sakura once again.

The pink-haired kunoichi got the hint.

"Hinata, I- …I'm sorry." Her face was full of shame, "I don't know what came over me. What I did was… inexcusable… and I understand if you don't want to be around me anymore… I just wasn't thinking right and I-" Sakura was struggling with tears again.

The Hyuuga heir thought about the situation as Sakura struggled for words. She tried hard to put herself in the same situation, and she realized that Sakura's attachment to both Naruto and Sasuke was borderline excessive, and that it had never been breached by anyone from the outside of the team before. Although all genin teams gained a special sort of camaraderie throughout their genin days, none had gone through as much stress as Team Seven, and none of the other teams had quite the dynamic and almost dangerous mix of personalities as Kakashi's did. Not only that, but Sakura was the lone female on the team. Kunoichi had a special kind of pressure on them, as Hinata herself had experienced. Female Shinobi were certainly outnumbered in the ninja world two to one. The sexism in the ninja world was apparent, as females had to work much harder in an attempt to be taken seriously without sacrificing what being a woman meant. It was hard, she knew, and the inferiority complex that could be developed from it could create extremely strong bonds with the other male teammates, whether they liked it or not.

Even Sakura's violent reaction was being put into light. In response to the person Hinata had... loved… getting married, Hinata had done the most reckless thing in her life and the evidence of it was a growing person in her body. Perhaps Sakura's reaction was far more excessive, but Hinata could grasp the general idea.

"It's okay, Sakura," She interrupted softly, "I… can forgive you."

Sakura was relieved, but Sasuke was peeved at Hinata's instant acceptance.

"But its best if you just stay away for awhile, Sakura…" He growled at her, "_Trust_ is a fragile thing, and it takes awhile to mend."

With his emphasis on 'trust', Sakura winced a bit, and her thoughts again returned to Naruto. Tears pricked her eyes again, but then she breathed them away with a furrowed brow, a new determination swirling in her head.

_How many times have I told myself I wouldn't cry anymore?_ She asked herself. She wiped her cheeks decisively, nodded, and looked at both Sasuke and Hinata.

"Thank you both," She said softly before pausing and continuing in a more professional tone, "Now I healed some of the damage, but you're still very hurt, Sasuke. If you would like me to stop by tomorrow, I can try to see how much more I can heal. Rest is what you need for now. If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to."

That said, Sakura turned and left the room, giving the quiet couple some peace.

When the door shut, Hinata turned to Sasuke.

"Sakura was crying very hard when I woke up. Were you hard on her?" She asked quietly.

Sasuke nodded. "Sakura has yanked Naruto around on a chain for too long. What happened between us all was long overdue. You were just the catalyst." He said critically, and he almost clucked in disapproval like his mother would have.

"Oh…" Hinata said, clearly trying to think of times when Sakura had slighted Naruto.

The Uchiha pulled her from these thoughts when his finger tips brushed the side of her palm. His voice, shy and mumbled now, barely reached her ears, "Please go home and rest…" He struggled with his phrasing, "…you look terrible."

Instantly, Sasuke's mouth dammed up and he chided himself internally for the slip. Hinata, however, took his words with a small dose of tolerance and extracted his meaning. She was touched by his concern, and a small smile curled on her face. She stood and leaned over Sasuke, her hand brushing his hair aside as she placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Okay," She said sweetly, if not quiet, "You too, then."

Sasuke swallowed in relief. Ino or Sakura would have probably bashed his already throbbing skull in. He nodded slightly to her suggestion.

As she left, Hinata uttered a small 'bye' from the doorway, and Sasuke grunted out his own small version in response.

His black eyes meandering from where she had jus been to where she had been sitting, Sasuke's gaze caught on the curled piece of parchment on the wooden table in the corner.

_The Marriage Contract... _Sasuke stared at it, suddenly realizing that Hinata hadn't looked at it or even mentioned it in the time he had been awake. Had she even read it? She had to have… otherwise she would have said something about it.

Sasuke's gut felt like it was squirming as he tried to think of what he would do if he was rejected.

* * *

When people said that Naruto was Konoha's Most Unpredictable Ninja, _they were not joking._

Finding Naruto had proved to be an impressive task, as his usual comfort spots, which Sakura knew quite well, were vacant. He was not found on the grassy cliff above the Hokage's faces, nor atop the Hokage Tower, nor in a small alcove in a public garden filled with low tree braches and ivy vines (Sakura's personal favorite). Even the Ichiraku Ramen man said that Naruto had been absent for the past few days.

In fact, Sakura had search nearly everywhere before her sandals crushed onto the sparse grass of the first training ground that Team Seven met upon. Neither Sakura nor Naruto enjoyed this place, as it reminded them of when they were a weak genin team. Weak, but united and happy, and that's what hurt the most.

In all of Sakura's and Naruto's questing to win Sasuke back from the darkness, that vision of Team Seven training with Kakashi here is what they had clung to desperately. All they had wanted was that precious time back.

Unfortunately, it was apparent those days were gone for good. Even with Sasuke back, they had all changed to the point where it could never quite be the same. As a result, this area was a bitter reminder of what they had lost permanently. What it was, exactly, Sakura couldn't quite grasp.

As a last ditch effort, Sakura began to wander through the trees, feeling that, although she had no evidence, he was there.

The air seemed to vibrate with his presence.

Finally, quite by accident, she stumbled upon a tiny campsite in a small clearing. It consisted of only a pack, an unrolled bedroll, and the smoldering remains of a miniature campfire.

The backpack, which had been a constant on every remotely lengthy mission throughout the years, was immediately recognizable as Naruto's.

As she stepped towards the ashes of the fire, a voice from a tree above her spoke.

"Sakura." She turned towards him, spying him curled in the nook between trunk and branch, his back against the body of the tree and his legs hanging on either side. He fiddled with a kunai blankly with his hands.

Half- lidded with sadness and resignation, his cerulean blue eyes searched her own eyes.

The corners of Naruto's mouth turned down and, after a moment, he uttered down at her, "Go away."


	12. Sparring

**A/N: To clarify, I don't hate this entire story. In fact, I rather liked the last chapter.  
This will be a NaruSaku intensive chapter. Mostly from Sakura's point of view, some of Naruto's.**

**This Chapter is a ROUGH DRAFT!**

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There was a long moment of intense heart beating on Sakura's part as she stared into his deep crystal blue eyes.

Sadness seeped into his irises, and Sakura felt horrible as the cause. It was then that it occurred to Sakura just how much she loved Naruto.

Sakura knew that she loved him, of course, but when she really thought about it, she couldn't even begin to imagine going on with life without him there too. Tears stung her eyes a bit as she thought about it before shutting the possibility out of her mind.

No, now she knew what was meant by 'you don't know what you have 'til it's gone.' As she looked him in the eyes, her hear beat in her ears and her throat tightened in a way that she knew would make her voice waver.

The kunoichi opened her mouth pour her feelings and apologies at Naruto, but she was cut off before she could start.

"No." Naruto growled, breaking away from her gaze to stare off at a tree, "I don't want to hear your…"

She watched his mouth work for the right words, but they never came. Instead, he stood up and faced away from her.

"Just… go away."

Her turquoise eyes bored into the stop where he had just vacated. The leaves trembled where he had jumped off into the jungle.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut tightly and her head fell. She thought about following him, but her hands were shaking already.

After a moment, Sakura turned and looked down at Naruto's meager camp. His pack was open, and it looked as though he had ruffled through it. There was some fruit and jerky peeking out.

An idea suddenly struck Sakura, and she turned and rushed into the brush, back towards Konoha. As she ran, she checked her watch. It was 6:30 p.m. on a Sunday. Ichiraku Ramen closed at 7:00 on Sundays!

After some close calls with carts and only a few people knocked over, Sakura made it to Ichiraku Ramen with fifteen minutes to closing. The old man's daughter smiled oddly at Sakura, whose chest was heaving from the run.

"One extra large Naruto ramen, with everything," Sakura finally managed, "I know you guys don't do special requests, but can you make it to go?"

The girl's smile faltered. "Naruto? Are you ordering something for him?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, he's not very happy with me right now…"

"Oh," She said, smiling again, "I'll make something up special then, just for him. You can return the bowl later."

She disappeared, and Sakura sat on a stool to wait.

When the girl came back, she carried a large ceramic bowl, covered by a plastic lid. She handed the bowl to Sakura, along with a pair of chopsticks, wrapped in a cloth napkin.

"It's dad's traveling lunch bowl," She explained, "but I don't think he'll mind too much, just be sure to bring it back!"

Sakura smiled in thanks and handed over the money after nodding. Then, she was off, no longer running, but fast-walking as to not splash the soup around.

When she reached the training grounds and then, finally, Naruto's campsite, she could see that the fire had been stoked a bit and his pack had been moved about again. She hadn't been trying to sneak up, so he had no doubt just left the site.

Sakura set the ramen bowl down carefully, laying the chopsticks a top it. Then she turned around and left.

* * *

That night, Sakura tossed and turned in her bed that was too big for one person. She shivered in her pajamas and spent most of the night staring at the wall thinking.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura went back to Naruto's camp to find the bowl empty next to his pack. She had once again made plenty of noise on the way to the camp, and she suspected that Naruto had once again left before she could arrive.

Sakura had always been moderately surprised at how aware and alert Naruto could be, especially on any missions she had recently been on with him. The growth he had made from his clumsy beginning was astonishing by the standards of normal ninja growth, but most everyone who knew Naruto simply chalked it up to being a 'Naruto thing.'

The kunoichi retrieved the bowl from the ground, resisting the urge to touch his sleeping mat to see if it was still warm, and left the area.

When she arrived back at Ichiraku's, she ordered the lunch special she thought Naruto would especially enjoy, and the girl who worked the Ramen stand gladly allowed her to borrow the bowl again.

Sakura stopped before she left, though. She turned back to the girl and said, "Do you happen to have any pieces of paper? And a pen?"

"Yes, we do, hold on." The girl disappeared into the back room, returning with a small square of paper and an old and fancy pen.

Not knowing what to write yet, Sakura merely stared at the paper for a bit. What did you say to someone you have emotionally knifed?

She leaned over the paper and started writing I'M SORR-

Sakura stopped with a frustrated sigh. She furiously scribbled over her incomplete apology and tapped the end of the pen against her chin, a habit she had picked up from Tsunade.

Finally, Sakura placed the pen back on the paper and scratched under the scribble: FOR YOU.

Satisfied, Sakura gathered the bowl and the paper up, thanking the girl for her help, and left the shop.

* * *

The fire was a pile of ash when she returned, and she thought that perhaps Naruto hadn't been back to his campsite in sometime.

Sakura carefully placed the bowl next to his pack again and placed the note on top of the plastic top. Then, she placed the chopsticks on top of it, to be sure it couldn't blow away in a stray breeze.

After glancing around once more, Sakura trudged home, rather dejectedly, unsure of what to do with the rest of her day. She spent the rest of the day doing laundry, and trying to occupy herself.

* * *

Unbeknownst to her, a pair of cerulean blue eyes watched Sakura carefully place the note atop the bowl of ramen she had brought for the second time. Naruto dropped down from a tree branch high above with a quiet thump. He carefully examined the ramen bowl from a few feet away with narrowed eyes. Then, the clone put his fingers together and expelled in a cloud of smoke.

In another part of the forest, Naruto and another clone stopped fighting as they became aware of Sakura's visit. The clone exploded into smoke as Naruto turned and leaped into the upper tree branches, hurrying back towards his little camp.

When he set down onto the ground, Naruto approached the bowl of ramen with a grim face. He hadn't intended to eat the last bowl, but he had gotten quite sick of grinding beef jerky between his teeth. Now the bowl was back, the sides just barely cool enough to hold between palms, and he could smell the Monday Lunch Special he liked so much from four feet away. He would eat the ramen, but the note on the top was what bothered him most.

After a moment's hesitation, the blond bent over and picked up the note. He examined the scribble, and then read the note.

FOR YOU.

Naruto looked away and into the bushes, eyes not really focused at all. He thumbed the note absently.

It was two words that held a world of meaning. Naruto knew better than anyone that doing things for other people could be the most rewarding and painful thing a person could do. He did things for other people all the time. In fact, his life goal involved dedicating his entire life to doing things for his village.

He was not a fair giver, though, and he had given Sakura everything she had ever asked for, and even more that she hadn't. He had given her so much; he would never have enough of anything to give someone else more.

So, for the first time in a long time, she gave him something, completely selflessly.

Sort of.

As Naruto sat, he stuffed the note into his pocket. He grasped the bowl and opened it, beginning to eat.

The jinchuuriki thought deeply of the significance of ramen and what Sakura meant by it. On some level, Naruto understood that she was trying to make things right and try to be selfless, for once, but Naruto was wiser than that. She was doing this for herself, too. It made her feel better to know he was eating her 'I'm sorry' gifts.

He snorted while he gulped noodles. Naruto certainly appreciated her efforts at doing something for someone else completely, but the future Hokage had a sneaking suspicion that Sakura was out of practice.

Naruto grinned through a mouthful of ramen as a sudden idea struck him. He ate much more quickly as he schemed out his idea, and, when he had finally drank the last drop of broth, he was quite satisfied with his idea.

The Kyuubi vessel scrambled into his bedroll, determined to rest well that night. After all, a good night's sleep was needed before a good spar.

* * *

Sakura's eyes found Naruto immediately when she entered the campsite to collect his empty bowl for the second time. He sat exactly where he had when she had first come, lazing against the trunk of a tree and resting on the branch. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be completely ignoring her.

Sakura was immobile for a few long seconds, before she finally realized that he probably wouldn't want to talk to her. After all, there was no way that he was asleep.

So, she moved forward, shoulders unconsciously slumping, towards the empty bowl and chopsticks. When she picked it up, Sakura noticed that the note she had left was nowhere in sight. With one last glance at Naruto, she turned back around and towards the village.

"Wait."

Naruto hadn't meant for his voice to sound so desperate, but he followed it up with a cough as he swung one of his legs over the tree branch, hopping to the ground.

Sakura spun on one heel faster than she had meant to, but it seemed that Naruto hadn't noticed how eager she was for him to speak to her again, because he had taken to examining his toes.

She was hoping that he would say a few words and they would be back to their usual selves, laughing and joking and obnoxiously affectionate in public. But her wishes stood on unsteady ground, because she could feel the gaping wound between them, still raw and painful. It was hard for her to be able to feel a wound that her normal methods of glowing chakra could never heal.

"I- uhh.. I understand that you're trying to make me feel better…" Naruto started in a halting voice, "But when I feel down… I usually talk to…" He trailed off rather than say her name, "… or I spar with Sasuke."

Sakura nodded slowly as she listened, rather ashamed that she was partially responsible for Sasuke's condition.

Naruto leaned his weight on one leg and looked up into the tree, scratching the back of his head. "Sooo… I was wondering if you wanted to spar with me instead." He continued, "It would really help me out."

Sakura's eyes lit up as she realized that Naruto was asking her to spend time with him, to spar, to make him feel better.

"Yeah!" She said enthusiastically, before feeling overly excited, "I mean, yeah, I'd really like to spar with you."

"Okay." Naruto responded, a smile crawling across his face, "Well let's get started! You should put that ramen bowl down first, though."

His wife let out a half completed 'oh' and set the bowl down gently, surprised that they were going to spar right there and then.

Naruto watched as she stepped over the bowl and started her usual sparring traditions of retrieving the gloves from her pockets and pulling them on, one by one. He had once called them her ass-whooping gloves.

Sakura watched as Naruto rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck and all his fingers, just like he always did. It drove her nuts, and she had often told him so.

The kunoichi sank into a fighting stance but was surprised when Naruto grinned and crossed his fingers in a familiar seal. Four clones poofed into existence and the five of them raced towards Sakura all at once.

Her husband had never used clones against her before in a spar. Their spars were usually one on one, focusing on intensely advanced taijutsu.

Team Seven's only female didn't have any more time to contemplate this change because the multiples had surrounded her and were sliding in to reprise a move she had seen Naruto use against Kiba in the Chuunin exams. She flipped from the circle with ease, leaving the three clones to slide towards each other.

She had been anticipated, though, because another Naruto locked her arms behind her when Sakura landed. The other Naruto not being used in the Rendan leaped at her from the left with a heavy right fist aimed at her face.

The punch connected solid with her face and her eyes reeled from the shock wave, blurring and distorting her vision.

Sakura didn't need to see to know where the clone was going to land, though, and her left leg whipped upwards, her foot catching the clone under his chin. She was rewarded with a poof.

Then, she swung her leg back down and used its momentum to lift the Naruto behind her off the ground and up. As she curled her head under, she forced their close bodies to do an incomplete flip, ending with her slamming the clone's back onto the ground, followed by her own body smacking into the front of his body. He poofed out of existence and she flopped onto the ground.

Just as her vision cleared once more, a Naruto was flying at her again. It yelled as he made to grapple her, but Sakura raised her legs to catapult him off behind her while using his momentum to flip herself back to her feet.

When she heard him rushing her again from behind, she was ready.

Spinning on her toes, Sakura let loose a throaty shout and grasped the clone but his unshielded neck, her fingers crushing down til she felt his trachea buckle. Sakura was relieved as the flesh she gripped in her fist turned to smoke.

As she turned back around, she spotted another clone rearing back with a punch from the corner of her eye. She ducked the punch as she spun, letting her right leg drag cross the ground before sweeping the legs right out from under him.

Sakura snatched him back up by the front of his orange jacket and pumped chakra into her arm, lifting him and throwing him headfirst into the nearest tree trunk, where he poofed on impact.

Chakra drained from her arm and Sakura was surprised by the use of her monstrous strength, something she had never done in a spar with Naruto before.

Sakura spun and looked back into the small clearing at the real Naruto, who was grinning at her.

"Lucky none of those were me." He said in a sing song voice.

Sakura raised her eyebrows and pointed at him, "You're next." She started to advance.

Naruto simply raised his fingers yet again, and this time she caught his whisper, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

Turquoise eyes widened as Naruto clones filled the trees and the clearing, all of them grinning and taunting her.

"Who's next?" They all chorused at once, sticking out their tongues, as four started advancing.

With no more time to be surprised, Sakura poured herself into the fight, and soon gave up on using only normal taijutsu against Naruto's horde of clones.

She would fight off ten or so clones before there would be a lull large enough for her to crack open the ground and swallow fifty.

Fighting hundreds of her own husband was tiring and endless, something she had only remotely experienced once against Sasori's hundreds of puppets. Even then, it had been different with someone else on her side. Naruto's endless chakra was perhaps his greatest asset. Her and Naruto's spars were never this intense, and Sakura had never fully realized how formidable Naruto could be as an enemy, and this was only one technique.

In a sense, all he needed was one technique, because she could feel her body wearing down already.

The true Naruto stood high in a tree, observing Sakura fight with other clones. As she defeated them, the information as to which fist hit them with and where was reabsorbed by himself and other clones. After many clones had fallen to her abilities and roughly a half hour had passed since they first began, he began to notice patterns in her fighting style.

Like the fact she favored her reaching right punch, which left her core wide open far too often.

Suddenly, Sakura took a nasty kick to the stomach that knocked the breath from her and sent her flying. The crowd of clones split like water, and she was stopped by a tree.

As she lay slumped against the trunk, the horde of clones collectively gasped and stared with deep concern as she coughed to catch her breath and her body shuddered with gasps.

At this moment, Naruto's words from just before came back to her, and she realized just what this was. This was not a usual spar between Naruto and her, this was a usual spar between Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura had witnessed a few of their spars, and they were usually held far outside the village, because the earth would be torn and forests fell. Naruto and Sasuke fought like they meant to kill each other, and it was usually their way of expressing their respect towards each other, and a way for them to vent. However, Sasuke was currently injured, which left Naruto to punch logs.

But Naruto had decided that he would use his wife as a substitute, and this was the result.

The kunoichi figured that she'd have to toughen up to spar on Sasuke and Naruto's level, or be seriously injured.

Resolution in mind, Sakura's gloved hands stopped nursing her stomach and balled into fists. She stood, slowly, and plunged her fist deep into the trunk of the tree. The two and a half foot diameter splintered like a snapped pencil, and Sakura wrapped her arms around it.

Chakra flowed into her arms until they glowed, and the clones stepped back in surprise. With a primal yell, the pick-haired kunoichi reversed the fall of the tree and swung around on her heels in a circle, wiping out a chunk of the clone crowd, and then let go when it was towards the thickest part of the crowd. The tree rolled through the clones, spewing up smoke and giving rise to screams as some clones tried to escape its path. It crashed through the brush and right through saplings as the clones that weren't in its way gaped at the spectacle.

While no one was looking, Sakura spun and surged off in a run towards a tree she had picked out. It had a foot of diameter and it looked very straight. The top had thick branches and it was full of young twig like branches that would act as whips.

With a single solid kick, the bottom portion of the tree exploded into kindling and Sakura caught the tree on the way down. When she turned, the clones had overcome their initial shock and the survivors of her first tree were starting to clamber towards her with shouts of anger.

She wielded the tree like a giant sword, sweeping it through the crowd of clones and even picking some of them out of the air if they tried an aerial approach. Chakra saturated the muscle cells and gave her the ability to use a full grown tree as a weapon.

The true Naruto was rightly shocked when Sakura started wiping out vast quantities of his clones with a tree, and he was forced to switch trees in order to avoid her offensive tactics.

Finally, he was forced to call two of his clones towards him to pour their chakra into his fist to make a rather large Rasengan in his right hand, before they disappeared.

The bright blue ball was spotted, though, by Sakura from the corner of her eye. With a growl, she hefted the tree, turning it around. She cut the tree where the branches began with a well-aimed chakra fist, and then she raised the tree, now a good twenty feet in length. Sakura leaned back and, with a gruff yell, threw the tree trunk like a javelin at Naruto's chest.

He met it in mid-air with the Rasengan.

The ball of rotating chakra ate through the trunk like a wood-chipper, just large enough to break up the entire tree.

Sakura watched carefully from below. She had seen the Rasengan in action many times before, and she was looking for the dissolution of the sphere. Then, she charged her feet with chakra, and leapt, shooting into the air.

Just as the Rasengan ate through the end of the tree and start to clear, Naruto was met with Sakura and her fist. He barely had enough time to cross his arms in front of his face before she smashed her fist where his nose should have been.

His wife's chakra charged fist sent him flying backwards through branches before he finally hit a solid trunk, causing him to slide down to the ground.

Sakura landed on the ground with her feet solid beneath, her knees bending on impact. Naruto's concentration broken, his clones poofed from existence around her and she straightened, starting to advance towards where Naruto landed.

The Kyuubi vessel was badly injured, but his demon chakra was already starting to heal him. His splintered forearms slowly reassembled and knitted back together and the bruising of his back began to fade. The tiny cuts all along his body from branches steamed as they sealed and returned his skin to its usual untouched state.

Naruto stayed completely still, though, as his wounds healed. Even after they healed, Naruto was still as though he was dead.

When Sakura reached him, she could see that he was healed, but he was sitting like a stone.

"Naruto?" She asked, her voice unsure.

At first, she couldn't sense any of his chakra moving at all, as though it was just a body, and then it exploded into a chakra that flowed in the most peculiar way. And there was tons of it, too. Sakura stepped back in apprehension.

Naruto moved then, up and into a squat before he raised his head and opened his eyes.

Sakura's eyes widened as she stared at the red pigment staining his lids and his eerie yellow irises dotted with dash shaped pupils.

The Nature Sage grinned at Sakura's stunned face. "This is so much fun, Sakura." He said, "Are you ready for round two?"

* * *

**A/N: Action scenes are fun! The next chapter spar will be a lot more personal. SasuHina in the next chapter, by the way.**

**If you think this fight scene is unrealistic, please direct your attention to the entirety of the Naruto Manga. It makes tree-swords look like a normal thing.**

**I think tree-swords are cool. Were I Sakura, I'd use everything as a weapon. She always fights close range when she could just be heaving giant boulders and houses at people. No sense, I tell ya.**


End file.
